


Give Up the Ghost

by MistyGish



Series: Veridicality [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Action & Romance, Emotional Baggage, F/M, Monster Hunters, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-01-13 11:40:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 49,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21243500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistyGish/pseuds/MistyGish
Summary: Dean and Sam meet back up with Mavis Singer, this time hunting down whatever is hunting Mae, in Part 6 in the Veridicality Series. What does this mystery mean for Mae and Dean? This is not a stand alone piece. It start directly after The Truth Between You and Me.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a reminder, this isn't a standalone piece. You should probably read the other stories first.

A/N- Just a reminder, this isn't a standalone piece. You should probably read the other stories first. I've put handy dandy links to each story on my profile page. I hope you enjoy the next installment.

* * *

Dean and Sam had taken another job despite the lingering repairs still needed on the Impala. Tensions were high between the boys, not in the fight about to break out way, but in a more subtle avoiding a fight way. Neither wanted to make things worse but neither of them was willing to confront it. Mae had managed to put a few cracks into the wall Dean had put up, only by virtue of playing on every one of his sympathies.

Dean missed her already. Whatever power she had over him, however she did it, she brought him some modicum of comfort, support. She didn't ask for anything from him for that either. The crazy thing to him was that she didn't do anything either, not anything out of the ordinary anyway. She was just there for him, helping. She helped with the repairs to the car. She helped him sleep. She even made sure he didn't forget to eat. He supposed that wasn't nothing. It was a lot really, bringing some kind of stability to him. He wondered if he could really ask or expect that from her.

* * *

Not joining the boys felt like the right thing as much as it felt like it wasn't. There were somethings she couldn't fix, not for Dean or Sam. Or for herself. Dean told her this was something they needed to deal with, as brothers. In that regard, she would always be the third wheel. It was a reasonable request. They didn't need her to track down the mystery woman on their dad's voicemail.

Even though the boys didn't need her, that didn't mean she didn't miss Dean. She missed him more than she had prepared for. She worried about him. But now that she was alone at Bobby's, she realized she should have thought more about herself and what she was supposed to do now that she was once again on her own.

"Here." Bobby dropped a small stack of papers down in front of her on the desk. Mae didn't jump when he started her, but her brow folded in confusion. "It's a job."

"A job?"

He rested a hip on the edge of the old desk as he eyed her and drank his coffee. "You new here? It's something to do, get outta my hair."

Mae didn't even try to keep a passive face or disguise the smirk that overtook her. "You're...sending me out on a job? How John Winchester of you."

There was a strange sort of giddiness in her eyes and he knew that this was a significant gesture for both of them. "You're drivin' me nuts, girl. Besides, you need something constructive more constructive to do than sit here and pout."

"I'm not pouting. But I told Dean I'd wait for him and Sam to get back."

"Your plan is to sit around and wait for him?"

"It's not like that. It's more complicated than that."

"There are these new things call phones. You could call him and let him know where you're going. Unless this whole thing is just you waiting around for him.

Eyeing the documents, she bit her lip. "Are you asking me to go with you?"

"No, I think you can handle this one on your own. You're a good hunter. I know that you can do it."

She didn't ask how he knew anything about her hunting but suspected he'd kept relatively close tabs on her over the years. He's certainly done so when he'd ask other hunters not to help her track down the demon on her own. "Well, I appreciate it but uh, you know it's sort of undignified taking a bus to hunt down evil."

"Maybe you should have thought about that before lettin' your ride take off without you."

Mae sighed, leaning back in the chair. "C'mon, why are you riding me so hard about this?"

"It doesn't seem like you, that's all."

"Yeah well...how I have been hasn't exactly been good for me. I thought you liked Dean."

"I do. He's a good kid. It just seems like you're giving up your whole life to be with a guy."

She scoffed. "That is hardly...he just lost his dad, okay? He... what Don't start on me. Can't you take satisfaction in knowing that you'd make better choices in my position."

Bobby chuckled a bit. "Fair enough. I'll take you home. It won't take more than half a day and we can both go back to being sane."

"Oh, like you don't love me being here." She teased.

"You can stay as long as you want. But you've cleaned half the house out of anxiety, so I know you're not loving it here."

"Well… yeah."

"It's up to you honey, stay here and drive us both nuts or go home and start looking into this case."

* * *

The drive across South Dakota and Wyoming wasn't the most interesting road trip. The silence was neither awkward nor wholly comfortable. Bobby's taste in music wasn't hers but was tolerable. While they could have discussed any number of their past issues, they didn't. Mae read through the papers Bobby gave her more times than she could count and talked about theories.

The job was three deaths. Young men, which wasn't worthy of their investigation but those men, all between 25 and 30, had died of what the coroners had ruled old age. There were a handful of creatures out there that could pre-maturely age someone. More likely something that fed on life-force. Maybe a succubus, could be a witch or witches, a vampiric ghost or something similar. Given a smaller pool of possible creatures that could be involved and that meant there were ways to stop the thing. So, it seemed like a standard job, one she could take care of solo, maybe even before Sam and Dean returned to Bobby's.

Since the trail started in Oregon, had she not decided to take it, he would still have dropped her at home. Neither of them dallied at her house. Bobby dropped her off and left. Aside from clean and free bathrooms, she offered little other hospitality as she had not been back in weeks herself so had little in the way of fresh food. To her surprise, she found herself disappointed that Bobby was going off to work on his own case. She'd grown used to having company, partners on the job.

But he did leave her with a final, albeit worrisome statement. "Watch yourself if you take up with Dean an' Sam again."

"What do you mean?"

"I meant what I said to them; they stepped in some serious crap and I don't want you to get caught in the fallout just because you and Dean are all lovey dovey now."

She rolled her eyes but didn't dispute any of it. "I'll be careful."

Within the hour, she was back on the road again, in her own car. She had contacted her father-in-law, Cal to give him a quick status update, glossing over the gory details. She didn't need another father figure getting overly protective of her or judgmental of her choices. She restocked her supplies, grabbed some fresh clothes, and felt relieved to be back behind her the wheel of her own car. A case of her own would be a good thing to occupy her mind and take her thoughts off of Dean.

Hours later, she laid out the case Bobby had given her and the research she'd pulled herself at her motel. It was going to be almost relaxing to focus on something clean cut and logical, something she didn't need to worry about the emotional or psychological complications involved in it.

The police reports for all three men didn't find much because there didn't appear to be a crime really. Just unexplained deaths. If they hadn't died from 'old age' the deaths seemed like they would have been chalked up as natural deaths. But they weren't natural in anyway, either by regular people standards or theirs. The deaths were ruled, on paper, as undetermined.

She jotted a short list of to dos for herself in order to get a better understanding of what had happened, why these men, why this way, what was behind it, and how to stop it. She missed Dean. And Sam. It was easier with them both in tow. They could split the research, interviews, and leg work. They could bounce ideas off each other. Hell, even having company at some greasy spoon was nice. She hadn't realized that she'd had become used to it.

As if sensing her thoughts, her phone rang. Seeing his name on the caller ID made her a bit giddy. It seemed silly, strange and a little wonderful. Years had passed since she felt this way about talking to someone on the phone. They had left things in a strange place, neither good nor bad but not where she had anticipated. John's death had changed things, changed the mission, changed the motivations for each boy, and changed the approach. But no one had broached the subject yet. This was never going to be an easy situation. The questions around his death and the realities of it made it more complex. Mae didn't expect him to bounce back immediately.

It was why she let some of things that would have bothered her slide. That wasn't a conscious act, she realized; she just knew that she was a little softer when dealing with him lately. Her voice was a little syrupy sweet when she said hi. Under normal circumstances, he would have loved that. He might have even teased her about it. During all the years they hadn't gotten along, he had missed that tone. He would have loved to hear it and for all of the bad blood between them to be gone. But today, it left him feeling lost.

"Hey Red. I've got a professional question to ask you."

Dean shook his head and could even imagine the peak of her eyebrow and sarcastic retort on the tip of her tongue. "A professional question? Now just what profession are you talking about?"

A smirk ghosted over his lips but didn't come close to lighting up his eyes as he stared off out the window of the minivan outside of the latest no-tell motel he and Sam were staying at. "What I mean is…how much do you think dad didn't tell us about hunting?"

It made her frown a little, concerned and confused. She tried not to sigh audibly. "It does seem like he had his share of secrets and he..." she was going to say that John took them to the grave but thought better of it, "he did a good job of keeping them. Why do you ask?"

"Do you know a woman named Ellen?"

She paused. "Ellen Harvelle? Is that who left the message?"

"Yeah. You know her?"

"Sure. She runs a bar and it's the sort of place a hunter can go and talk openly about what they do. Like a biker bar but more ghosts."

"What else?"

"I think her husband used to hunt. Maybe she went out with him, I don't know, but he didn't seem to keep his hunting gig separate from his real life. She never over charged for beer. I think she has a daughter a couple years younger than us. It's not like we're the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or anything."

"Okay." He thought for a second, just a second about telling her about hitting on Jo, mostly because he'd pulled back, he'd realized that not only was he not interested in his typical fling, but he also knew it would hurt Mae.

"Hey, are you okay? Did you track Ellen down? Did she give you something good, bad, or irrelevant?""

"Yeah, we found her. I don't know that she gave us anything groundbreaking. I…" he considered trying to keep things just about the case and shrugging off her concern. But he found that with Mae, he couldn't. "I'm fine. I just don't know…I guess I'm feeling…not like myself."

"Well, I wish I could say something to make that go away."

"Me too. I miss you."

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. I miss you too."

There was a pleasant silence, he though, between them. She didn't poke and prod at him. She asked and was willing to move on if he wasn't ready. Dean closed his eyes a moment. God, he wanted her to be there. He would feel steadier. He wouldn't have that burning anxiety at the base of his skull waiting to find out if Ash could make sense of the pattern their dad had put together.

He wanted to feel her slender fingers feather through his hair as he rested his head against her chest, listening to her heartbeat. He didn't want to be states apart, despite his protestations that he needed to do this with his brother, and he needed space. He might have needed that, but he wanted her. He wanted her to make it better. He felt distinctly uncomfortable having tried and failed to flirt with Jo. He didn't have any intention on making good on it had he felt some kind of connect with her. Instead, he was left thinking more about Mae than anyone else.

"So…Ellen?" Mae continued.

"Yeah, she said she could help with the demon."

"Hmmm."

"What's that mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything Dean. It was just a thinky sound."

"What are you thinking about it?"

"Dude, ease up. I don't know what Ellen knows so I can't really weigh in on it, can I?"

"Yeah, I guess. You know that Ash guy?"

"Yeah," she laughed, "he's hard to ignore."

"Is he really a genius or is it like that saying about genius and insanity."

"It could be a little of both. I don't know much about his backstory because I don't really trust any dude with a mullet. But he did go to MIT so he's no dummy."

"So, he said and yet he was sleeping on a pool table when we found him."

"Like you've slept in exclusively ritzy titzy places. Sam went to Stanford. I went to Barnard. And you probably wouldn't be surprised to find either of us on a pool table."

"I guess." His brow furrowed, "Barnard?"

"Yeah. That's where I went to college."

"No. What…I don't know what kind of school that is."

"Barnard to bed, Columbia to wed." She said off handedly, as she idly shifted through her papers.

"Wait, what?"

"It's just something they say about Barnard girls. You know, we were all either lesbians or sluts, so they say. It's a Women's liberal art's college in New York."

Dean nodded, even knowing she couldn't see him, largely because he wasn't sure what all of them mean, expect that it was probably a big deal of some sort. "I'd love to know more about this lesbian or slut thing but... anyway, this Ash kid says he can track the demon, using what dad put together, he can work some sort of geek magic and track it."

"If anyone can, Ash can."

"Good."

Dean went quiet again, not sure what to talk about next but not wanting to get off the phone yet. Mae spoke first. "That was your professional question? Because it was more than one question."

"That was it."

"Well, what are you doing now?"

"We had some time to kill while Ash does his thing. So…we hunted down a clown."

He expected her to laugh but she sounded as serious as anything. "Oh, I hope you killed every last one of those evil freaks and make them hurt."

"What, you too? You hate clowns?"

"You don't? I've never thought you were crazy until you said that."

"Maybe you just saw It one to many times?"

"No sir, this is common sense."

This time his smile came with a little more ease and a little more genuine emotion. "Well, anyway, we're headed back now. It might take us a while since there was...an issue with the van."

An issue? Besides you hating it?"

"Yeah, besides that. Anyway, how you holdin' up having' to spend so much time with Bobby? I'm not gonna come home to find you wearing a trucker hat, am I?"

"Yeah, um," she said after an uncomfortably long pause, "I…I'm actually in Oregon right now. Bobby wanted a little space and frankly, I needed it too. So, he and I aren't stuck together. And if you're heading back now…I might not make it back there before you get back to his place. But you know, as soon as I'm done here, we can meet up. There or somewhere else, if that's what happens."

The silence that settled over the line was a little more apprehensive and filled with unspoken emotions. "Oh, I thought we'd finish the car together."

Mae supposed she could have given him a bit more of a heads up, knowing that he was feeling rather aimless and exposed. She had hoped she would have more time before having to tell him, that maybe she could get this job finished and get back to Bobby's before it was even an issue. "Yeah, I'd love to. You wrap up your job and I wrap up mine, we can meet back up at Bobby's. Okay? I just...we were kind of driving each other nuts and I needed to do more than wait for you to decide you had a job I could work on."

"I…" Dean wasn't sure what to say. He's pictured things differently and he hadn't considered that she would go off on her own.

"What?" There was the barest hint of accusation in her tone even though she'd only said one word.

She heard the hesitation in his voice, like he was weighing whether or not to continue. Dean pressed his tongue against his cheek. "It's not like that. I don't want you to just wait around for me. I'm not just picking out jobs I think it's okay for you to work on. We've just had some... weird stuff the past few weeks, you know?"

"I get it. But twice now, that's what's happened. Last time, you were a little worried about keeping me safe and you wanted to have a plan b if all hell broke loose. This time, you've got brother sit to deal with. I can handle both. But I'm not a prop or here just to make you feel better. I have to do more."

"I just thought you said you'd wait for me. I though you wanted to make this work."

Her eyebrow arched up, disbelieving. "Yeah, I do. Although for the record, I'm fairly certain I did not say I'd wait for you. I said that I thought it was good for you to take this job and when it was done, we'd finish the car so we could start hunting again properly. And we still can even if I'm not waiting around for you with my thumb up my ass the rest of the time."

"I just want to know where you are."

"I'm in Oregon. Bobby knows where I am. He's the one who picked out the pattern here. C'mon, this is a dumb fight to have."

"No, it's- I can't trust you if you just run off. What happens if...something happens to you and I'm not there?"

"Yeah, I don't know. You should have asked that before you left me behind, where something could happen to me while you weren't there."

Dean sighed. "Maybe if we talked about it first, I'd feel better about it."

"Talk about what? We're... only dating or whatever. You're not my dad. You're not in charge of what I do or where I go. I don't need your permission to do my job. I mean, you were just going to find out who left that mystery message and you took a side gig."

He huffed. "It's not safe. The demon nearly killed Sam and me, did kill dad. So, I think you owe me...something more. I need to know you're serious about this."

Her sigh was an exasperated one. "Hunting or you."

"Both."

"You realize that's crazy right? I told you I wanted to be with you. But that doesn't mean that when you and your brother take off and specifically tell me that you need to do this together, that I'm going stare out the window and wait for you to come home and make my life real again."

"I never said—"

Mae cut him off. "I know that's not what you were saying but do you genuinely think that I'm the sort of person who would just stay put? C'mon."

"I'm not trying to be…stubborn here."

"No, you're not, it's just a natural gift of yours. You don't have to try."

Dean wasn't yelling but he was close to it. "I can't do my job if I'm worrying about you."

"Yes, you can. I can do mine worrying about you. You do yours worrying about Sam. I get it, you want to control things to keep us safe...safer. But you don't get to...put me on the shelf until its convenient for you to play with me."

"That's not...I'm not saying that you can't hunt. I just... I wanted..." he sighed, raking his hand through his hair, "You know, I don't get why we just end up fighting." He conceded.

"We end up fighting when we're not up front with each other. You know, we never really dealt with how this would all work."

"Maybe we should take a break."

"From hunting? I'm not sure how you'd convince Sam-"

"From whatever we're doing."

"What? You want to break up because I don't want to sit around and wait for you? If that's a deal breaker for you, then yeah."

"It's not that. I... I want you to wait for me, okay?"

"I am. Just not where you told me to wait. There are a lot of things I'll do for you, but I deserve more than being a bit player in your life. Or mine for that matter."

"I need to know you're safe."

"I'm as safe as you are."

Desperation clung to his throat. "I just...c'mon, give me a break on something here Mae. Please, make just one thing easy for me."

"I'm not trying to make things difficult for you Dean. You know that. But... you knew this was an issue when we started this whole thing. I made it clear I wasn't trading everything in my life for the chance to be with you."

"This is different."

How could she make it clear to Dean? Really, she knew she couldn't because she understood where he was coming from. While she understood, she didn't agree. "Is it? Listen, I am glad that your sorting this thing out with your brother. I hope that you...do what you need to do. I... I will go mental if I don't have something better to do that putter around Bobby's house, worrying about you, and trying to figure out how to... fix something I can't fix. I know I can't."

"Yeah. So... maybe we need some space for a bit. "

His words hung there, oddly and disconcertingly true. Mavis sighed. She wanted to be angry at the suggestion, but it didn't come. She wanted to be sad but that didn't come either. Instead, she was thought Dean was going through something even he didn't understand. Dean's coping mechanisms didn't extent to both the level of loss he was going through and dealing with relationship things.

"Is that what you really want?"

"No. But you said you couldn't give me what I want. And who knows, maybe that's not what I really want so..."

Something was wrong with him and he knew it. He knew Mae would try to fix it, but she couldn't. He at least realized she was right, and it wasn't fair to ask her to not to join him but also not do anything else on the off chance that he would want something from her.

"I won't do exactly what you want, when you want and that's it? It's all or nothing for you?"

"No. I don't know. Maybe. It's...if I could go back and make things different, I would. Nothing feels right to me right now. Even you and me. I can't even think about what you want or need. I can't..." He sighed, almost chocked up a little, "I guess I'm not a good person to be with right now. It's just too hard right now."

Mae blinked, wondering what sort of parallel universe she stumbled into. What happened to Dean over the past two days? Maybe she should have stuck around for him to return. Or maybe all of this would have surfaced while she was still at the mercy of being stuck in her childhood home, with no car, and no clear way forward.

While it didn't make total sense, a part did. Something about his explanation sounded almost right. And she knew she couldn't force him to feel differently. There was nothing she could do to make him see that even if she wasn't back at Bobby's didn't mean she wasn't still there for him. Compassion should have won out, she knew. She wasn't mad but she was hurt by his inability to see past whatever wasn't feeling right for him.

"Well, God forbid you do something hard." She hung up. "Ass." she muttered, perhaps about him and perhaps about herself.


	2. Chapter 2

Two days after she left her uncle's home, she was deep in a case in McMinnville, the past day, she had found several connections between the men. First, they were all known to be womanizers, rarely in relationships but if they were, they were never faithful. They also had records including drunk and disorderly, assault, battery, domestic violence. None of them were gems. There were a number of vengeful spirits and creatures who would take their revenge out on men like that.

A vengeful spirit or creature draining the life out of men. She had more than enough details to get a short list of possibilities. She had a few books with her on creatures, spirits, and all manner of monsters with her but spent several hours scouring the web looking for those creatures and more importantly what could take them out. Mae had narrowed down the creature taking out the men in Oregon to some kind of kitsune, a spirit fox.

Mae thought talking it out with someone might help her organize her thoughts. Instead, she looked over the articles and pictures she'd added to her wall as she paced. There were a number of different types and lore around them, ranging from some kind of fox-based lycanthropy to a traditional rice god. There were some good types and some evil types. Of the evil ones, most engaged in either possession or imitation of a beautiful woman, luring men to their eventual deaths.

There was no sign she was dealing with a shapeshifter, which left her looking for the other type. Now was it one that leaned towards mischief, like a trickster or was it the malicious type? The dead guys would certainly lean one way but maybe on a fox spirit level, they were just being taught a lesson.

Night had fallen by the time Mae drove to the house of the first victim, Parker Farewell. The house was unimpressive, with virtually nothing distinctive. It was a single-story ranch style house and looked almost exactly the same as the rest on the block. She suspected the residents were similarly homogeneous but for now, she was focused on this one, while trying not to draw any unnecessary attention to herself as she snuck into the back yard so she could break in through the back door, for a subtler approach.

After picking the lock on the back door, she put her kit back in one of her jacket pockets and slipped inside. It wasn't a crime scene, but no one had come to clean the place up or try to get new occupants in there yet. At least that made her job easier. Still, stealth was an objective while inside. From a different pocket, she pulled out a small flashlight and EMF detector.

On the inside, the house was just as basic and boring as the outside. Mid-priced but boring furniture. Nothing that gave any suggestion of who he was, what he did, what he liked. There were a few framed movie posters which she supposed counted as art for this guy. The kitchen was sparse. An incomplete set of dishes, plastic forks and spoons but real steak knives. No glassware, only plastic take out cups. The fridge was equally barren save for a few beers and well past expired takeout.

There were slightly more signs of a life in the living room, if it could be called that. A leather sofa that had seen better days occupied most of the wall under the window facing the street. Across from it was a large TV. He had a fair number of DVDs, CDs, and video games. She didn't peruse the selection. The kitchen and living room both registered clean on the EMF. Nothing seemed odd, out of place. It was all painfully normal.

Mae moved down the hallway, passing the bathroom of a man who clearly lived alone some if not all the time. Across from the bathroom was a spare room that had been set up as a home gym. This too look, and smelled, well used. So, he was likely in good shape before his death, strong enough to put up a fight even against a creature, she thought.

At the end of the hall was the main bedroom. A king-sized bed took up most of the room, A nightstand flanked one side of the bed but not the other. The bed was still unmade, sheets and blankets in a messy heap on the mattress. The closet door was still partly open. She nudged the doors wider with the flashlight. Again, there was nothing particularly stand out about the clothes there. A few boring suits, trousers, nondescript sweaters. Nothing flashy, eye catching, or particularly expensive looking.

The nearby dresser contained the same non-treasure trove. It all appeared to her to be the plain life or a plain man who only seemed to work out and drink too much. There wasn't any particular reason, so far, to target him unless this creature was really into white bread. Turning from the closet to the nearby bookshelf she was startled by the sudden, sharp whine of the EMF.

Mae frowned as she backtracked, scanning the room once again. The room was hot but when she moved the device in front of the bookcase, it spiked again. Was it a cursed object or fetish kept among the knickknacks or books? The shelf was light on books, heavier on what she would consider junk. Bobbleheads, an empty cup, even crumpled tissues, absolutely nothing that screamed out to her as being supernatural.

But there was something there. She knew there had to be something. Pocketing the EMF reader, she carefully inspected the items in the bookcase, the shelves, everything, before moving on to the outside. When she ran her hands along the side, against the wall, she felt something. It wasn't a gust of cold air. It was more of cold spot. That tingle of being on the right train and near something otherworldly ran down her spine. A tension settled in her through as she looked for a way to move the bookcase.

Holding the flashlight in her mouth, she tried to shove the case to the side. It didn't slide with a push, rather it nudged forward, on hinges. It opened like a door, revealing the secret behind it. She took the flashlight in her hand again. The beam of light swept over the small room hidden behind the shelf. "Holy shit." she muttered to herself.

Now this was something that said what kind of person he was, what he liked, what he did. His record of assaults and public drunkenness wasn't exactly a strike against him. Those could have been anything but this, there was no question about this.

Initially, she had not liked Parker Farewell but now she was solidly on the side of the kitsune. In the room, no larger than 8 by 8 foot was a cage with a dish of water and what she assumed was food, bedding, discarded women's clothing, and a pair of black high heel shoes. Here was a light switch on the wall, which she flicked with her elbow. The single, bare light bulb was screwed into the socket in the ceiling, making the room seem so much darker and colder. Mae nudged the pile of clothing with the toe of her boot. It looked to be a tight red dress, nothing else.

No blood, no hair, no sign of a struggle. No sign that perhaps a dog or other animal had been kept in the cage, not that it would make anything better because the conditions were appealing for either human or animal. The man had died unusually but not enough to make the police suspect foul play so the hadn't searched the house extensively. The room wasn't on display, but it wasn't impossible to find.

She turned the light off in the room with her elbow, careful not to touch anything more. Tracing her steps back through the house, she wiped down every surface she had touched. It mucked what would be a crime scene a bit more, which was regrettable, but at this point unavoidable.

The authorities would need to get in here again. This was something the authorities obviously hadn't investigated, and they needed to, for the sake of whoever had been in that secret room. It gummed up the work for her. Because now there were dead men and a missing woman. Or maybe she was now found. Maybe she was dead too. She didn't know. How it tied back into the kitsune, she didn't know yet.

* * *

5 Days Later

When her phone rand, she checked the caller ID warily. While she wasn't pissed off with Dean, she wasn't looking for another lecture or pointless argument. Eventually, she would have to talk to him, eventually she would want to but for now, the break might have been for the best. The call wasn't from Dean however, it was Sam. Every annoyed or angry thought she'd ever held for him melted away as her heart sank. When they weren't working a case together, a call from Sam was never a good thing.

She answered because she didn't want to hear that something bad happened to Dean via voicemail. The panic was laced through her voice. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Everything's okay, mostly."

"Mostly? Is Dean okay? Are you okay? Are you both okay?"

"Yeah," Sam let a smile ease into his words, "We're just on another job and I had a question."

Knowing that this wasn't _that_ call, she eased back in her chair. "I'm sure you and Dean can figure out what you're after."

"It's not that. We're after vampires."

"Again? Dean must practically be wetting his pants about that. Is it the same ones we squared off against last time? They get your scent for life and those ones wouldn't hesitate to take you both out."

"Yeah, I know, that's not my question. You know a lot of hunters, right?"

"Do I know a lot of hunters? I guess. I know enough."

Same cleared his throat. "You know a guy name Gordon Walker?"

"Gordon? Yeah. Vampires? Listen, you should just-maybe just walk away on this one."

"He's dangerous?"

"If he's not hunting you, no. But he's...intense. And not in the healthy way like your dad."

Sam chuckled halfheartedly. "Dean seems to get along with him pretty well. I don't know I don't really trust him."

"I mean...I could see Dean finding Gordon's style kinda appealing."

"I'm worried about him Mae."

"He-give him time, man. Seems pretty obvious he's having a rough time dealing with your dad's death. Who could blame him, you know? But...maybe you can convince him there's a better case to take."

"Wish you were here. You might be able to do that."

"I doubt that."

"I'm serious. Any chance you could make it to Red Lodge? I know Bobby said you had taken another job but...I could use the back up."

Had Dean completely glossed over their last conversation? How had he explained to Sam why she wasn't there? Maybe Sam didn't ask or didn't care. He'd been told some level of detail, which seemed to be enough for him. "Montana?"

"Yeah."

"So…Dean finished the car?

"Yeah. We took off on a job right after though."

"Oh well…I'm not sure I can take off right now. I'm really in the middle of things here."

"Then can you call Dean? Just talk to him a little. Maybe-"

"Sam, I think you're overestimating my power over him right now. You can handle this, really. If it gets worse, call me. Or Bobby, okay?"

"Yeah. Is everything okay with you?"

Mae actually considered the question a minute. "Yeah, I'm fine. Everything is just...weird, you know?"

"That's for sure."

"Listen, take care of yourself. And Dean. Okay? Promise me that."

"Of course. Why are you talking like you'll never see me again?"

"It's not that. I'm just not there right now and I know Dean isn't himself right now."

"I know. Are you?"

With a sigh, she rolled her eyes. "Dude, I don't need a therapy session."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure I need many. But not tonight and not from you. I'll let you get back to it. Stay safe, okay?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Uh…aren't we going to Mae's?" Sam finally asked as they headed in the opposite direction.

Mae's house wasn't that far from Red Lodge and after that job, Sam was more than happy to stay at her house rather than another yet another motel.

They hadn't stayed there enough for him to consider it a second home or even a home but staying there meant more privacy for everyone involved. Her place was comfortable though, oddly homey and welcoming. It didn't seem like the sort of place a hunter would live, save the tools of the trade, reference books, and protective symbols disguised as decor. Maybe it was because she was a woman. Maybe because she had constructed a normal life for a number of years that she'd been able to hide all of that in plain sight.

Sam thought if his brother spent a little time with Mae, he might unwind a bit, maybe even talk about what was bothering him. He needed to talk to someone.

Dean's jaw twitched and then tightened. His fingers gripped the wheel a little harder in the silence. "She won't want to see me." He finally said.

"Why's that?"

His brother's tone sounded accusatory but even Dean wondered if that wasn't just the voice in the back of his head. He hadn't called her since she hung up on him. The idea that he should call her back repeated on a loop in his mind. He could tell her he misspoke, or he didn't know what he was talking about. Or even that two weeks was more than enough time apart. It would have been easy. Pride was only part of what kept him from trying to apologize or explain or do anything more than let the argument fester.

The other, more disturbing part was about reassuring himself that she wanted the break too. After all, she hadn't really fought it or him on the notion. Sure, she didn't suggest it and she argued with him on it, but she still stayed on her job. She wasn't at Bobby's when they came back. He wasn't the only one who hadn't called over the past two weeks. He needed that reassurance since he was having trouble justifying why he'd do this to himself. He needed the twisted logic to keep her at arm's length. But he missed Mae more than he anticipated.

"We—we're not… we needed some space I guess."

Sam looked at Dean like he was crazy. Dean refused to take his eyes off the road. "You two broke up?"

"You could call it that."

"Did she call it off or did you?"

"No one-It was mutual, okay? And we really don't need to talk about this."

"You've been chasing after her almost as long as we had been looking for dad. And you've been in love with her...forever. You try having a real-ish relationship for a few months and you just get over all that?"

Dean didn't answer right away. "It wasn't working out."

"Oh, because you've had so much experience with relationships."

Dean scowled but he kept his eyes straight forward on the road. "Why do you care? It's not like...it's not like it's any of your business what Mae and I decide to do or not do."

"You've been a pain in the ass for the past two weeks and I know it's not just dad either. Hell, she was the only one who you actually talked to about anything and the only one you'd let help you. Is that it? You worried that she saw too much of the real you?"

"She knows who I am, okay? It just didn't work out. It's not that hard to see why what we do doesn't match up with girlfriend stuff."

Sam sighed. "Do you love her?"

"That's not...that's not what this is about."

"Then what is it about?"

"Why does it matter to you?"

He and Dean had been arguing more than normal so what did one more matter, Sam thought, as he kept prodding his brother. "Because you're not as pissy when you're with her."

"Pissy?"

"Yeah. I know you don't care about the whole...regular person thing but that's not what Mae is about either. So why don't you want to be with someone who you enjoy being with? I don't get how you'd let her go."

"She...I asked her to stay at Bobby's and she wouldn't."

Sam laughed. "Why the hell would you ask her to do that?"

"It's not the craziest thing to ask someone you care about. I wanted her safe and we weren't there to look after her. That demon is still out there, and it's taken enough of the people we love."

"Dude, Mae doesn't need a babysitter. Being at Bobby's doesn't make her safe. And I don't see how she's safe with us than without us. It doesn't seem like you achieved anything as far as her being safe goes and only made the both of you more miserable."

"You think she should have come with us on the last few jobs?"

"Why not? She's a good hunter. I like having her around. And like I said before, you're in a better mood."

It wasn't as if Sam made more sense than Mae had when she made the same points. It all made sense and he knew he was being stubborn. He knew this was yet another sign of how poorly he was dealing with any of it. He even knew fixing it was just as simple as calling Mae. "Yeah well..."

"Relationship are work. Even without all the supernatural stuff, it's hard and it doesn't always just work out because you love each other."

"Do you really think a relationship is really the best thing to do under the circumstances? Listen, she's a great girl but…I don't know, man, she doesn't deserve to get thrown into all this."

"No offense man, but she's in it. It's not like you're springing this on her. She knows what she's getting into and she's not the sort of woman who's going to stop. Seems like the only difference is you can do this together or apart. For the record, I'd rather have her with us than not."

His jaw loosened. This was something that he could talk about with Sam. Not that he would have a solution that Dean already knew. "I'm not telling her to stop. I mean, if it were you and Jessica and she knew everything about you and still wanted to be with you... would you put her in danger just because you were in love?"

Sam wasn't entirely sure but there was one thing he knew for sure and that's what he told his brother. "If I had her back and if our situation was like you and Mae, I wouldn't turn her away for anything."

If the words got through to his brother, he wasn't sure because after a long silence, rather than a delayed response, Dean only turned the radio back up.

* * *

Mae's eyelids felt like they'd been glued together when she tried to open her eyes. Slowly, a little unevenly, she managed to open them, and her vision swam. When she was able to focus, nothing looked familiar. Her head throbbed even without moving. Sitting up was an unsuccessful endeavor as the pain came sharp and swift as she attempted it. Instead, she lay back down to gather her bearings.

All that was there was fog, like cotton mouth in her brain. Pawing one of the nightstands that flanked the bed and then the other, she found a note pad with the motel name and number. It indicated that she was waking up at the Senora Vista Motel in Fredonia, Arizona. Mae scrubbed a hand over her face, trying to put things in order.

Mae recalled going to sleep in Oregon; now she was waking up in Arizona. That wasn't a walk around the park or down the block. Attempting to move, much slower this time, she searched for her phone, relieved to find it on the nightstand too. It was a short-lived feeling as the date told her she was missing 2, almost 3, days. Her last call had been with Sam. So, what had happened between then and now?

Cautiously, she sat up to take survey of the room. There were beer and liquor bottles scattered haphazardly in the kitchen area. While it wasn't unthinkable that she might have gone on a bender, she hardly remembered starting one. Nor did her typical benders end up traversing multiple states. Something was wrong.

After gathering herself, she got out of bed. Her legs were shaky, and she needed a moment to steady herself before she made her way to the bathroom. She was naked, which was another item to add to the list of things that were wrong with this situation. When she was working, she didn't tend to sleep in the buff because she never knew if she'd need to jump into action or flee in the middle of the night. That too set off warnings in her mind.

Her reflection didn't look quite right. It only lasted a second, if that but in that flash, she did not fully recognize the person looking back at her. After a quick blink, she was in fact herself. Then she saw a vision of herself that looked to have done a night or two of heavy drinking. But she didn't feel like she had been drinking for a day, maybe longer. This wasn't a hungover feeling. She felt awful but not properly hungover.

She ran a hand through already messy hair and try as she might, there was nothing there after Oregon. She remembered tracking the kitsune and spending a night in the wood, waiting for it to return to its den. She remembered it returning, in fox form. She remembered tackling it, tussling, and ultimately cutting off its tails. She remembered it dying and turning to ash in her hands. She remembered the walk back to her car, even clearing down the room. She didn't leave that night, however.

There was no hot trail leading to her, no explicit crimes that could be tied to her, so hitting the road wasn't urgent. That particular hotel was a nicer place to stay because it had good water pressure, which after a day in the woods and a physical fight with what was basically a wild animal, she enjoyed that shower as long as possible. She made notes in her journal, cleaned up all of her papers, and returned the motel room to its boring and basic state. She packed her things and loaded the car, ready to leave once she woke up the next morning.

That's what should have happened. But she lost that next morning and this was where she woke up. There was nothing else in her memory and plenty of other things that seemed to have happened. She examined her body for any cuts, bruises, or signs of anything suggesting what had happened. There were a few healing scratches from the fight with the kitsune, nothing fresh. She remembered getting those though. Because she was feeling grimy and bewildered, she took a quick shower in hopes that she could feel a little more human.

However, after showering and padding out of the bathroom to get dressed, she didn't couldn't find her bags. Or her clothes in the closet. She found clothes but they looked nothing like hers, nothing like her style. Even when she'd had to play a character or role for the job, she didn't tend to wear miniskirts or daisy dukes. She'd wear the leather pants and, in the right circumstances the crop and halter tops. Was she in someone else's room? Had she been shacked up with some chick for the past few days? Again, it wasn't an impossibility but seemed rather odd. Or was this hers and yet another thing she didn't remember. Everything was adding up to an increasingly confusing equation.

"What the hell?"

Even stranger in her opinion was the fact that her things, her standard hunting gear was nowhere to be seen. Now, if she had gone off on a drinking binge, she probably wouldn't have brought a bunch of knives and weapons on a booty call. As she looked around a little more, she realized that she also hadn't put down any protective items or anything else to indicate that she had taken any protective measures. Aside from waking up in the room, finding her phone, keys, and boots, none of this looked like she had brought herself here. It was all out of the ordinary. None of this brought her real answers, only more questions and a nervous panic about what had happened, what would happen next.

Mae tightened the towel around her chest and cautiously looked out the window. The sun was far too bright for her eyes, but she was at least able to confirm that her car was outside the room. So, she likely hadn't been abducted or if she had been, whoever had done it wasn't particularly good at it. That, to her mind, left drinking too much and possibly sex with strangers.

Sucking up her pride, she put on a pair of the leather pants and a halter top that was far too low cut for her liking. But it was better than nothing. At least the thin blade she kept in her boot was still there. Odd how such a small object could give her comfort. She didn't believe someone would attack her on her way to her car, but she finally felt like herself having it with her.

She was guarded and more than a little paranoid as she made her way out of the motel room to the parking lot. Relief washed over her finding her car safe, intact, and damage free. It was still locked. Opening up the hatch, she found her gear bags. Glancing over her shoulder, she lifted the partition that kid the majority of her weapons and things that would around suspicion.

Everything, the sawed off shot guns, pistols, knives, and other blades were there. Her books were there. The charms, crosses, and various pendants were there. She moved the locked box that contained herbs and oils to access a more concealed panel. She pulled the panel open to expose the also locked smuggler's hatch she'd built when she restored the car. With the small key on her key chain, she unlocked it. Inside, she found her journal, the emergency cash she kept on hand and one stash of fake IDs and documents.

Relieved, she sighed audibly and the tension in her lessened, just a bit. Whatever was going on, it didn't seem related to hunting. Or, again, if it was, who or whatever had brought her here wasn't particularly aware of the details of her work. Gathering the things, she thought she might need, she locked everything securely in the car again and all but ran back into her room. There she holed herself up trying to track herself down without leaving the room again. In part, she was worried about what she might find that she did during her missing time. But really, she wanted to see if anyone returned to the room.

Her notes were more or less up to date, dropping off where her last clear memories dropped off. She had been hunting a kitsune. She'd found the kitsune. She had taken care of it. She read the information she had put down on the creature:

_Kitsune need freedom. Freedom and respect. Lore indicates that if someone doesn't take care of the fox spirit, they can turn. _

She huffed a short sigh out her nose. The job didn't go south. She'd take care of the kitsune, killing it one of the ways that seemed to be the most certain way to put it down for good. Mae spent the rest of the day piecing together what had happened between then and now, with little success. It was dark out. She was tired. She was hungry.

She ordered a pizza to minimize the contact she had with the outside world even though she knew she'd need to leave the room eventually. Her body was stiff, and she realized she hadn't moved in hours as she checked her credit card activity, voice mails, and police blotters. She also realized she hadn't changed from the outfit she had put on to go to her car. When she retrieved the bag with her own clothes and set it on the bed

"You have got to be kidding me." When she reached in to take out a top and jeans, she only pulled out ribbons of fabric. All of her clothing was shredded and unwearable. "What the fuck is this?"

She threw the bag on the floor and took its place on the bed. With a heavy sigh, she rested her elbows on her knees and put her head in her hands. She rubbed her temples. Her breath shuttered. She refused to cry, not while she still had no idea what happened to her. All she knew right then was that she needed help on this.

Three people that came to mind, all with pros and cons, who could help her. She could call Cal; he was probably the best person to track someone down, but hunting wasn't his forte and if this was something supernatural, he wouldn't be much help in putting it down. He had too many qualms about the illegality of the work. There was Bobby; he had the hunting and tracking skills she needed but the thought of telling him even the little bits and pieces that she recalled was painfully excruciating. Then there was Dean. A few weeks ago, a few months ago, she wouldn't have thought twice about it. He would have been the top of her list. But now...

She wanted to honor his need to a break, after all he was going through something. Even so, he would help her if she needed it. That was the problem with Dean. She'd have to admit that she needed help, that she wasn't safe, which he would take as an indication that she wasn't safe without him. But Dean and Sam were a formidable team; they had the knowledge and experience to be useful and she could trust them. If it weren't for Dean…

Mae picked her phone up off the nightstand and stared at the address book a while longer. After another span of deliberation with herself, she dialed the phone. It rang two times before she hung up. She wasn't going to ask Dean for help, she decided. While it was slightly less embarrassing to call him as opposed to Bobby, it wasn't much better.

Unfortunately for her pride, a few moments later her phone rang. She tried to convince herself it was possible it was someone else, but her heart sank because she knew it was Dean. She didn't pick up, letting it ring to voice mail. It went quiet for a few seconds. Then her phone rang again. She knew the ring couldn't possibly sound more urgent but somehow it did. But again, she ignored it.

After a few minutes, her phone buzzed with a text message. She held her breath, waiting for silence to come again and it was quiet for a little while. Then it rang again. This time, because she knew it wouldn't stop, she picked up. "What?"

"What?" he repeated with a disbelieving tone in his voice. He was a little taken aback but mostly relieved that she picked up, "you called me."

"By mistake." She lied, hanging up on him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay Red don't dick me around here. "Dean said, having called her back after she abruptly ended the call last time. This tone softened from an order to a request. "What's going on with you?"

Mae closed her eyes. The sound of his voice was irrationally soothing at the moment. How had she become so use to talking to him every day in such a short period of time? God, she missed him. And she wondered if this wouldn't have happened if they'd stuck together. It very well might have but he would have been looking for her every second that she was missing.

"Hey, you still there. You call me late at night, hang up, ignore me, and when you finally do answer you hang up again? C'mon Mae,

A distinct knot was forming in her throat and threatening to break out with a strangled snivel. A ragged breath escaped. The voice in the back of her head told her to hang up before he figured out something was wrong. It was too late for that. She shouldn't have called in the first place because everything she had done after that only served to raise suspicion.

"Mavis. Talk to me."

"Yeah. Okay."

Her words were terse and loaded, no matter what she was doing to cover it up. It worried him. They hadn't spoken in far too long for his liking. As his mind was flooded with feelings of regret over pushing her away and the need to pull her back, he shook his head. That wasn't what this call was about. "Are you okay, Maeby?"

The question twisted deeper than it should have. She heard genuine concern and suddenly all of the implications of his notion of taking a break slammed into her with painful realness. there. A list of responses ran through her head, from denial to a full out rambling explanation of why she called. What came out was nothing. She couldn't vocalize her thoughts then.

"Mae. Are you okay? I need you to give me a yes or no here."

The firmness in his tone snapped her back. "I don't know." she whispered.

"That's not an okay answer Mavis. Are you hurt? Do you need help?"

His panic was barely constrained, which made Mae feel all the worse. She didn't want him to be right about her not being safe on her own nor did she want him to feel guilty about it. They knew they loved each other and neither believed this break had anything to do with losing that. They both still cared and worried about the other just as much as if they were in the same room.

"Where are you?" She asked, an almost curious whimsy in her voice.

"Not important right now. I need to know if you're okay or safe or what's going on with you. Right now, babe."

"I don't remember."

"You don't remember if you're okay or safe? That's not clearing things up."

"No, I'm telling you what's wrong; I don't remember what's happened for the last few days. Nothing. I can't put it back together. I can't even...There's nothing that makes sense and I just...I don't know."

"Mae-"

"Don't. The last think I need is a lecture here. You know, I shouldn't have even called."

"Hey, whoa, hold on a second. Don't hang up on me again. I will track you down if you do but I'm not doing anything except trying to figure out what's happening here."

"I told you, I don't know." She snapped back.

"Okay. Tell me what you do know, okay? Please? No lectures from me, I promise."

Sighing, she stood to pace the room. Mae proceeded to fill him in on the parts she knew for sure and a few of the guesses she had so far.

"Okay," Dean finally said, "Just stay where you are, alright? Sam and I'll help put the rest together and we'll figure this out."

"You don't need to do that if you don't—"

"Stop right there. You need to know that no matter what, if you need anything, I'll do whatever it takes to give it to you. You know that, right?"

She shook her head, not that he could see or respond to it, but the silence was more than enough to tell him that no, she wasn't aware of that. He had to admit that he could have been smoother when they broke things off. But in all honesty, he hadn't expected her to need him or wanting anything to do with him after that. He meant it all the same. Even if she hated him, he'd drop anything if she needed something from him.

"It's true Red. So, give me the address, and just stay where you are, and we'll be there ASAP."

She didn't tell him she couldn't promise she would be there. Hell, she didn't know how she got here or when. Whatever was happening, she had no idea if it would happen again. All the same, she gave him the location of the motel and her room number. Mae was reluctant to hang up. Those few minutes on the phone had been the closest to normal she had felt all day.

But she did hang up. She sat back down on the bed, phone pressed between her hands as she pulled her knees against her chest. She couldn't fall asleep, despite how tired she felt. If she did, she was sure she lose track of herself again. There was nothing more she could do help herself right then. She could bang her had against the wall looking for leads she hadn't found yet. She could keep speculating but it was all busy work. It was all killing time until something happened to her or the boys got there.

* * *

It took Dean and Sam the better part of the day—or rather night as it had been late when Mae had broken down to call Dean—to get to the motel. It was around seven in the morning when they arrived at her door. Dean was itching to get to her to make sure she was safe with his own eyes. But he knew she wasn't and knew he was walking into something he might not be ready for. He still needed to do it.

He felt a distinct chill ran down his spine and he was absolutely sure that he was about to go through hell. He'd never been under the illusion that dating her, that striking up a relationship with anyone whether or not they were a hunter, was going to be some sort of fairy tale romance. There would be more than their share of moments like this, where the realities of their work came right up against being emotionally connected to someone else.

An unfamiliar sense of trepidation moved uneasily through his body when he knocked on the door of the motel room. After a minute or so, she came to the door. There was the scuffing sound of the deadbolt being turned before the door opened, only as far as the chain allowed.

"Hey Red."

Her eyes narrowed a second as she took him in, seemingly evaluating if he was real or an illusion. The lanky redhead disappeared behind the door again followed by the rattle of the chain being undone. This time when the door opened, it opened wider.

Mae looked tired. Exhausted, really. He hated that sad, distant look that was in her eyes. Of course, it would have been better if he had looked at her eyes first rather than letting his eye fall directly to her generous cleavage in the incredibly low-cut top. "Jesus Mae, those tits."

"Okay, I can deal with this on my own. Thanks." She started to close the door, but Dean stopped it with a hand, pushing it back open.

"Hey okay, sorry. It's just very...distracting, you have to admit. Very...mmm."

"Dean! Focus." Both Mae and Sam chided him at the same time.

His eyes snapped back to hers. At least now, she was a little annoyed, which chased everything else away and brought life to those steely gray eyes. He didn't expect joy, happiness, or love when their eyes met this time but that what he got now was worse.

There was a distinct pink that crept over her unusually pale cheeks. Her hair was a frizzy tangle of red and a darker shade than normal was cast under her eyes on her makeup free face.

She stepped back from the doorway, letting the boys inside. Dean watch her turn and walk away, taking in the rest of her outfit. He tried to remind himself he was here to help her, not ogle her, but he did love seeing her bare legs in those short shorts

"What the hell are you wearing here?"

"Seriously? This is your question?"

"No offense Red, but normally, you dress like a lumberjack. A hot lumberjack but...never trailer trash. Again, no offense-and don't get me wrong, I'm thoroughly enjoying both the tits and ass here but..."

"All of my clothes were ruined. So, it's either this or nothing."

"Huge fan of nothing, if you're taking votes."

The motel room had a southwest theme but ultimately was just the same as almost every other one they'd stayed in over the years. It was messier but Mae seemed to be dealing with too much to care.

Mae sighed but it was Sam who spoke first. "Keep it in your pants, man. So..." Sam asked, picking up one of the many bottles she'd tried to tidy up but hadn't thrown away yet, "just on first impressions are you sure you don't remember anything because you've been on a huge bender?"

"No. I mean, maybe. Someone certainly seems to have been drinking a shit ton. But I don't..." She threw her hands up in surrender before dropping back to the edge of the bed, "I don't have any memory of doing it."

"Okay, so tell us what happened." Dean took his jacket off and draped it over the back of the chair before taking a seat.

"I told you everything I know. I had wrapped up a job in Oregon. It was pretty easy, straight forward, you know. I was going to head out in the morning, back home maybe or...I hadn't planned that far ahead."

Sam looked over the notes and documents she had put up on the wall from the last job. "A kitsune?"

"Yeah, it was targeting these dudes and draining them of their life force until they died."

"Maybe you got it wrong," Dean offered up, only glancing at her board before looking back at her, "Maybe it was some other creature. Could be a succubus and you just pissed it off."

"No. I killed the kitsune."

"It wasn't just a regular fox?"

Mae glared at Dean's suggestion but then sighed and fell back against the bed, draping her arm over her eyes. "Normal foxes can't turn into hot chicks. They don't have nine tails. And most importantly, they don't turn to ash when you cut the tails off. I promise you I didn't screw that job up."

"I wasn't saying you did. I'm just trying to figure out what happening, okay? Was anything else strange?"

"Yeah, all those guys the foxy lady took out were real pieces of shit."

"Shit how?" Sam asked.

"Violent, abusive, womanizing types. One of them had a lady cage hidden in his bedroom. I think the kitsune either targeted guys like that or he met up with her when she was in human form and then he took her hostage. When she had a chance to get free or take her revenge, he drained right off. Then she started going after similar types."

"Huh." both boys said.

Folding his arms over his chest, Sam tried to scan the case she laid out, looking for some item, some key she hadn't seen yet. "Well, you're clearly not the type it would target if it was still alive. That kind of leaves us at square one."

"Yeah, I'm aware."

The room fell silent. "Are you really okay? I mean really. You seem kind of...rough." Dean finally asked.

Mae sat back up as Sam joined his brother, taking a seat in the other chair at the small Formica table in the kitchenette. Dean watched as her eyes moved up to look over his face. He had no idea what she was looking for or what she found there but saw something very exposed in hers. Her posture softened as she appeared to find something that was good enough for whatever she needed. "I don't know. I haven't slept since I turned up here. I'm afraid if I do, I'll wake up somewhere else and-" her voice broke, "I don't know what's going on and I can't figure out. I don't...I didn't want to ask for help but-well, here we are. So no, I'm not okay."

"Red, baby-"

"I don't need you to...console me, or whatever you're about to do here. I just need you to help me figure this out before I end up in some new city with zero idea of how I got there or what I've done."

"I woulda helped to keep you awake while we were getting here, that's all."

She dipped her head, letting her hair fall to hide the distinct emotion that crossed her face. "Whatever. That's not really an issue, you know?"

Was there anything he could say or do to make her feel better, Dean wondered. He knew the answer before the question ever entered his mind. Instead, he stood and went over to the counter to make a fresh pot of coffee. He'd driven through the night too and while they weren't as tired as Mae, they could all use a hit of caffeine and then something more than coffee for breakfast.

"I hate to bring this up but there's every possibility that this...is a demon thing." Sam ran a hand through his hair and gave her a tight-lipped smile when her head snapped up. "I think we should try an exorcism."

It wasn't the worst idea and it had been one of the ideas that she'd had. Sam was right: it was possible. She didn't remember enough to say if she had run across a demon. Hell, the demon could have been following her since the hospital. It was even possible she had been possessed since then. She didn't feel possessed and had enough experience, she thought, to know what it felt like. That didn't mean it couldn't have happened as some point.

It didn't explain why a demon would let her come out of this now but then again given their recent demon playmates, it could have been something as simple as one of them wanting to toy or torment her. If it was possession by the kitsune, an exorcism would take care of that too.

"I won't stop you. If it is a possession though, it ain't me you have to worry about."

Sam smirked a little at the warning. "So... just to be safe, we should probably tie you up. If you are possessed..."

"Whoa, let's slow down here." Dean brought Mae a cup of coffee, resisting the urge to kiss the top of her head. He returned to the kitchenette for the two cups for Sam and himself but didn't take a seat. Instead, he stood. "She's not possessed. We're certainly not going to tie her up."

"I could be. You know I could be and if I am... demons don't like getting evicted," Mae shrugged. "But that does sound in keeping with my day."

"Sorry but if something is in you..."

There was that thoughtful, remorseful look on his face that was somehow reassuring. Mae stared at the dark liquid in the cup for a second. It made her hate the state of things between her and Dean because the exchange was comforting. "No, I know. Safety first and all that." She took a sip of coffee, causing her stomach to rumble disconcertingly loud.

Dean frowned down at her. "When was the last time you ate?"

"I ordered a pizza last night, but I wasn't really hungry. It's in the fridge if you want some."

"Sam, go get breakfast."

"No," Mae protested, stopping him with a hand to his arm. "Let's just get this done with. I don't want to chow down only to have to barf all over myself later. Just strap me down, break out the Latin, and check this off the list, okay?"

Mae stood, walking the few feet to set her coffee cup on the table. Her stomach still left her sort of woozy, but this wouldn't take very long to get this done. If she were lucky, perhaps it put an end to the potential cause. She could live with a handful of missing days and not knowing what had happened if they managed to end to it here and now.

Task at hand, Sam went out to the car to get supplies.

"You know Mae, we don't have to do this."

"C'mon, the worst thing that happens if nothing is in me is that we waste our time. Best case, this is all over and we can go back to our break."

"That's not...fair."

"Hey, I'm just yanking your chain a bit. Don't worry so much."

"I'm not going to be able to stop that."

Mae smirked at the sentiment. When Sam returned to the room, he tossed the book on the bed and handed Dean a length of rope. Mae pulled out a chair and sat down. Nervousness wasn't exactly what she was feeling. There was a tension and an apprehension, but she was willing to accept the situation as it was. Having a spirit expelled from her body wouldn't be better than letting it stay.

Kneeling beside her, Dean brushed his fingers along the inside of her wrists as he tied her hands behind her back. tying her hands behind her back first. "Let me know if this is too tight."

Under different circumstances, there might be something arousing about this. Instead, it made her laugh. "You know, if I am harboring a demon, this kind, respectful thing isn't going to make things easier for you down the road."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Just tie me up like you would anyone else, okay?"

Dean nodded, pulling the bindings a little tighter before wrapping around her body, tighter than was comfortable but not as tight could or would have. As he stood, slightly out of her peripheral vision, he pulled a flask out of his back pocket, unscrewed it, and then threw it in her face. Had she not been tied up, she would have sprung up. Instead she jerked away out of shock. She sputtered and tried to shake the water off her face, but it was no sign of demonic possession.

"What the hell!?"

"Holy water."

Mae huffed a little but nodded. She didn't see him walk away but he reappeared moments later with a hand towel from the bathroom and gently dried the excess water off her face. "I thought maybe if we knew for sure...but it didn't work with dad when he was possessed either. The demon said something about it not working on something like him so maybe it's just lower level demons or something."

"Well, I suppose I would have liked a little warning, but I get why you just went for it. So, let's just get going."

The shocked reaction he got out of when he surprised her with the water was the most climatic event of the entire ritual. As Sam read the ritual, Mae simply sat and listened. And they waited. She wasn't possessed or they weren't reading the right incantation for expelling something possessing her. For good measure, Sam read it through one more time but there was no reaction.

"So that was probably the best outcome that could ever happen when you let two dudes tie you up in a motel room." Mae said.

"Except now we're back to square one." Sam added.

"Then we just keep looking, don't we?" There was determination in his voice and that pre-panic was set in Dean's words. He leaned down to untie her. "Now, can Sammy get us something to eat?"

Mae nodded. Sam agreed, setting the book down and grabbing the keys to the car.

"You're not going with him?"

Dean shook his head. "Someone should stay here with you, so you don't go on walkabout."

He didn't leave any room for question about whether or not it should be Dean or Sam staying and Mae assumed there wasn't that question in Dean's mind.


	5. Chapter 5

She thought being alone with Dean might make her feel trapped. Maybe she was hoping it would feel that way. Instead, he was a comforting and calming presence. At the same time, she also felt like she had an addiction. She still wanted to be with him, and he didn't want to be with her the same way any longer. She suspected that the break was more of a blip than a permanent thing for Dean. Mae also knew if she hadn't called him for help, he wouldn't have called, and she wouldn't call him.

Dean paced the room before he decided to put his excess energy to work and perform some basic weapons maintenance. Research seemed too tedious and he needed a more physical outlet. Sharpening knives and cleaning guns were the closest he could find right then. The tasks helped him focus his thoughts on something other than her. He only had a few items with him, nowhere near the cache of weapons in the car.

Because she already had her equipment spread out on the spare mattress, he assumed at some point Mae also went through the routine. He would have to borrow her supplies too, but she just glanced at him when he grabbed her whetstone from the bed. Dean however, let his eyes linger far longer than hers had.

That outfit was the biggest distraction in the moment. He knew this was the exact wrong time to let his mind wander down that road. It was nearly impossible to not let his eyes roam her body. She inflamed his senses and she wasn't even trying. Was it because she never dressed that way and it was intriguing to see her in something tight and short? Was it because it had been weeks since they had been together?

When they were last together, his interest in sex was nearly nonexistent. In fact, it wasn't until seeing her now that he even felt something again. It wasn't sexual attraction alone but that was, to his surprise, this was the strongest he'd felt that since his father had died. This time, however, she didn't reciprocate. Of course, she was scared, confused, and exhausted, why would sex be the first thing on her mind?

Now that they were alone, he knew something would happen. Since sex was probably out, it would end up being some kind of protracted conversation. That was what he prepared himself for and, to a certain extent was looking forward to happening. To his surprise, she didn't say anything. At all. Instead, she took out her laptop to sit cross legged on the bed.

"It's a bit early for porn, isn't Maes?"

The corner of her mouth quirked up a bit. "I started the day getting tied up after waking up among a shit ton of booze bottles with no memory of where I've been dressed like a slutty farm girl. I'm pretty sure morning porn would be the least weird part of my morning."

Dean let himself laugh, a little more than necessary. He needed to do something more than wait and wonder. "You sure you don't want coffee or something?"

"You don't need to fuss over there Sparky."

"Maybe I want to." He confessed as he made his way back to the table and sat in one of the chairs

Again, she smirked more. "I'm-it makes me more uncomfortable, you know. Like you think something is wrong. And if you think something's wrong..."

"Nothing's wrong."

"Seriously, dude? Pretending it's not doesn't help either." Mae sighed, raking her hands through her hair. "Listen, there's nothing you can do right now, okay?"

"Fair enough. We'll get everything all sorted out. This isn't a big deal Red. I'll be your knight in shining armor here."

She barked out a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Shining armor sure, Dean."

He was meant it and wished she believed him. "Okay well...we'll figure it out. Are you sure you didn't just...blow off some steam here?" He gestured to the discarded bottles of alcohol.

Sam had already asked but maybe she was self-conscious to talk about it with him. She might not be as willing to discuss it with Dean but at least it was slightly less awkward this way.

Running her hand through her hair, she shook her head. "I wish I could tell you. It's possible, as much as anything is possible. It wouldn't be the first time I got smashed off my ass and... hooked up with someone."

"Why do you think you hooked up with someone?"

"I don't. But I thought that's where the clothes might have come from."

"You think you got drunk and hooked up with...Catherine Bach, who then left her clothes here?"

Mae had been pretending to work at her laptop with halfhearted taps and clicks on links that sent her nowhere before she gave up. "I don't know. When I first woke up here, it was an idea that popped into my head. I would not have picked any of this out myself. There's a skirt and leather pants too. I didn't hate he pants but they were too hot."

"I'll bet." he said suggestively, "So... are you like...into chicks all the time, or just when you're drunk?"

"Don't be gross."

"How is it gross to ask if the girl I'm with sleeps with women too?"

"I don't-how am I the girl you're with when we're not actually together?"

"One question at a time."

"I'm...not going to answer that because it's not important right now."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with it. I guess I never thought about you like that." Dean cleared his throat, 'I mean, I _thought_ about you like that but not, you know, more as something I was interested in."

"Stop, I get it." Mae sighed, "I like sex with men, okay? Currently, you're one of the ones I particularly enjoy."

''Good to know."

"Okay, back to you. I'm the girl you're with?"

"You're one of the ones I particularly enjoy." Dean grinned.

Mae sighed. "Yeah okay."

His eyes turned serious. "What do you want me to say here?"

"I don't want you to say anything. At least not anything you don't want to say. Why, what do you want to say?"

They could go around and round, back and forth and if one of them didn't break first, they'd end up fighting. "I'm just glad you called."

Mae took a breath. She wasn't going to ask the question, not directly any way. Asking him what their relationship status was any more bluntly than she already had. It wasn't the time or the place. Besides, he was the one who wanted the break, he'd have to be the one to say he wanted her back. Blowing her breath out in a thin stream, she turned back to her laptop.

"Do you have anything else to wear?"

Exasperated, she shot him a dirty look. "Lay off my tits, alright? I recognize that I have them and this is hardly the first time you've seen them so just...chill out because I can't really do much about them. The other top is worse so..."

"That's not-here," He removed and tossed her his flannel shirt. "I'm a fan of the top. You've got beautiful..." he swallowed, not wanting to just focus on her body. "I just thought maybe you'd be more comfortable but whatever."

The shirt was still warm when she put it on, and it smelled enticingly like him. God, she thought, this was too hard, to have him but not have him, to be near him but not with him. She wanted so deeply to let him wrap his arms around her and enfold her in strength and protection. She wished that alone would make all of this better.

"Why the hell are we like this?"

He didn't follow. "Excuse me?"

"You and me. I mean...when two people are stupid about each other, they don't act the way we do. They enjoy it, they indulge in it and... all we do is... push and fight it."

Dean knew Mae was right; if they were different people, normal people, with the sort of connection and emotions for each other, they would probably have been married years ago and maybe had a kid or two. They would have had a nice, normal life. To his surprise, that thought appealed to something in the back of his mind. He didn't want that life, knew he couldn't have that life, but if things were different, he knew he that's what he would have wanted.

"We didn't exactly grow up normal. All that other stuff is what normal people do. But normal people have weird secrets and screw up their lives way worse than we do."

"I don't think this is about the hunting. I think...I think it's about whatever is broken in both of us that makes it so we can't just be close to each I just... I just don't get us sometimes, myself included. I know that I'm part of the reason we broke up."

"We didn't break up. I just...I needed some time and you needed something I couldn't give you. Do you think we're...not together?"

"I don't know. If I hadn't called you, would you have called, tried to see me, or would you have let all this linger."

He frowned, breaking eye contact for a moment. "Eventually. I... don't know Mae. I'm not doing okay. I don't know how to make it right. I don't feel...right. How can you want to be with me?"

"Because I love you, dummy. That's enough for me. I don't..."

"You don't what?"

Mae shrugged. "I don't know why that's not enough for you."

He looked up at her and then put the blade he was sharpening back down on the table. He was strangely quiet as he stood and started pacing again. It was not a great sign. "It's not that it's not enough. It's not even worrying about it. It's something I can't even describe but there's something bothering me."

"What?"

Dean paused a moment to stand and then walk the short distance between the table and the kitchenette. "You really wanna know?"

"No, I want to keep bickering and feeling like I'm crazy because I'm not feeling whatever you're feeling. It's awesome." Sarcasm dripped from the words.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, his back towards her. "Then I gotta ask you a strange question Maes."

"Well, out with it." She said, setting her computer off to the side, as she braced for the worst.

As it so frequently happened when he was trying to keep it together with her, he couldn't look at her. Everything would come pouring out with one teary eyed look from her. All of the things eating at him for the past few weeks would come out. He just wasn't sure now was the right time to talk about them. It certainly wasn't the right time. But who else would listen? Who else would possibly understand? "After we rescued dad, we realized he'd been possessed, probably since he'd been taken."

Her brow furrowed, not understanding the connection. "Yeah, so you said. That wasn't your fault."

Dean shook his head. "No, this isn't about that, it's about what happened when he had control of dad, he uh, he told me some things. About you, about us…about…"

"About what? Why would anything a demon tell you twist you up. All they do is lie and torture."

"What if the truth is more painful than a lie?"

A frown overtook her delicate features, unable to anticipate what Dean might be about to really ask about. "A painful truth about me a demon told you? That's been keeping you from... form talking to me?"

"I don't know but I can't get it out of my head so..." he swallowed, not ready for the answer one way or another. "Well, were you ever pregnant? You know, when we were together. The first time, not recently because I'd like to think I would have caught that." He added to clarify his question, so she didn't tell him 'no' outright.

Her nose wrinkled. "Dude, no. That should be obvious, even to you. Why the hell would you take that sort of thing seriously, especially from a demon. And that demon, man, it has a particular grudge against you and me so of course it would try to...hurt you more."

"He told me that he regretted that he wasn't able to..."

"To what?"

"Among other things…to make me—us—watch as he ripped it out of you."

Not seeing his face was a mixed blessing. On one hand, she would hate to see whatever emotions were present in his hypnotic eyes. On the other, she was glad not to have him over analyze any expression on her face. "I don't know what to tell you. I guess it's possible."

Dean looked over his shoulder at her. Her voice had taken on a disturbingly quiet tone and the blood had all but left her face, which was enough to give him an answer of sorts. He wanted to hear her say it was impossible or call him stupid or crazy. He wanted her to tell him that having been pregnant was an impossibility.

He tried to run through all the possible times when they were together. All the times they had sex, but his dad had packed them up and made them leave. Was it ever long enough for him to not notice that she was pregnant? Or that she was pregnant and then not. He couldn't come up with anything. "So, it's true?"

Shrugging, she looked down at her hands, folded neatly over her lap. "No. It's not true. But what I'm saying is maybe I was pregnant. We were never exactly careful, and we did bang every chance we got. But I didn't know about it. I would have told you if I did."

"You weren't late or anything?"

"You need me to remember my periods from 8 years ago. Dean, I ran track in school. I didn't have regular periods. I didn't take a pregnancy test or...anything that made me think 'oh maybe he got me knocked up.' And then I got a damn piece of rebar through my middle. As far as I know I've never been pregnant. I can't tell you the demon is lying to you with absolute certainty, but I don't think it's true."

Dean's eyes narrowed. "What do you know?"

She leaned back. "I don't know anything. Why do you think I know something?"

"Because you would either say you were knocked up or not. But this possible stuff...you must know something."

"I don't know anything." With a sigh, she looked away, "But this isn't the first time I've heard that sort of thing from a demon, from this demon. When my husband was possessed by it...it told me how much it liked knowing that it put an end to any possibility for that and that...well, the rest was basically what you said about what it would have liked to have done to me, you, all that."

Dean gave up on trying to catch her eye and face away again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry, was I supposed to report all threats made my demons to you over the years?" Scoffing, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the headboard. "You think this is the first demon to threaten to rip something out of me? It's practically boiler plate."

"It felt really specific."

"Well that's the point, isn't it? But I've thought about the possibilities, the timeline...it could have happened, and it was just so early that I wouldn't have been able to tell. I wasn't able to tell if was. So..."

"What if you had known?"

"I don't know,"

"You haven't thought about it?"

"No. Dean, I let go of the idea that kids would be a part of my life long before it was a physical impossibility. You're wistful for the teen pregnancy we miss out on now?

A small, sad smile passed over his lips. "I don't know. Not logically, you know? Us having a kid would be a really bad idea, right? Especially then. But...I guess I'm thinking."

"That sounds dangerous." She teased.

"It's just...with dad gone...I don't know how to do this. I don't know how I'm supposed to keep..." The words caught in his throat, tears threatening to spill from the edges of his eyes.

Moving, Mae sat on her knees behind him and wrapping her arm around his neck. She pressed a kiss to the back of his head. Nothing she could think of to say would make any difference, would or could make him feel better. All she could offer was the small gesture.

"I'm sorry. I know this is so hard."

"I don't think I can...do this."

"You don't have to." she said gently.

He laughed a little but placed his hand over one of hers. "I can't let him down. Not after everything he did."

Mae contemplated telling him what she knew, what she suspected. She didn't, she couldn't. She needed to know for sure before blurting something out that she was still trying to piece together herself. It was too soon as they had lost John and wouldn't benefit Dean right now, she decided.

"He wanted you to be happy. You know that."

"Did you just meet him? That was never-don't get me wrong, he did his best, but his best was sometimes..."

"Yeah. I know. But...he changed a bit recently. He was more...tolerant maybe. He was, I don't know, remorseful of the way things went down, how you and Sam spent your lives. I think if you wanted to stop doing this, he'd understand."

"Even if he did, which he wouldn't, I can't. Not while that demon is still alive. Maybe if we killed it. But what the hell would I do Mae? I'm not...I'm good at this."

"You are. I guess I'm the one that wants you to be happy."

He squeezed her hand then brought it up to his lips, pressing a kiss to her soft skin. "You think that would be giving all this up?"

"I don't know what would make you happy, obviously. I'll just support whatever that may be. Even if it's not with me."

"Jesus Mae, you know it's not you I don't want to be with. I want to be with you, I never want-I want to be with you. I just don't know how to do it in a way that doesn't make you crazy, and where you feel like I respect you. I don't know how to do that. I'm not going to force you to be with me when you think I'm not giving you what you want, just because you make me feel..." He took a sharp breath.

"How do I make you feel?" She asked against his ear.

"Better. You make me feel better. You make me feel like maybe I'm not...what I am."

With a heavy sigh, she pressed her lips against his head again. "Some of the ways you make me crazy are fun. I just need you to trust me."

"I do. I trust you more than just about anyone. I trust you as much as Sam and Dad. But if I lost you too...and I know it's stupid to feel like this, given what we do. I can't stop feeling the way I feel."

"Well, I'd love to rub it in your face about how I'm just fine on my own but this whole thing makes it ring a little untrue."

"Happens to the best of us."

They fell quiet. After several minutes, her weight sagged into him more and the arms around him loosened more. "Mae?"

"Hmm...?"

"Are you falling asleep on me?"

"I'm just so tired and you know how it is when we're together."

Dean kissed her hand again. "Take a nap then."

"No. I can't. Sam's coming back soon. And... I'm too afraid to sleep."

"Listen, you're not alone. I promise I'll keep you right here. I won't leave your side so you're safe to sleep for a little while."


	6. Chapter 6

When Dean returned to the room, he was empty handed. Alone, that wasn't suspicious. All the same, that's what Mae felt. It could have been the lack of sleep or the way she was waiting for the other shoe to drop but she knew something was off. Or maybe it wasn't. She couldn't tell.

The trio had circled several steps they needed to take to pin down what she had been doing during her missing time, if there were any other events going on anywhere nearby that fit into their line of work, and what possible creatures could be causing Mae's current condition.

Sam was going to take the first shift, heading out to investigate details he could glean from police reports and newspapers as Mae hadn't left her room while doing her research. She was still uncomfortable with the idea of going anywhere, not even with one of the boys. Even if she had her own clothes or even something moderately less revealing, she didn't trust that it wouldn't happen all over again.

Despite her hesitation and downright fear of what could happen, she didn't say anything. She didn't need to because Dean handed out the assignments and he had no intention of letting her out of his sight. Under other circumstances, she would have taken offense to both the dictatorial action and leaving her out of it. But now, she was happy to stay in the safety of the room. Since finding herself alone in that room, she had laid down every protective barrier and trick she knew.

So far, nothing bad had happened which was either due to her reflex to try to keep any potential creature from getting to her or that nothing was after her. Maybe whatever had done this was gone now. That wouldn't have given her the answers she wanted but it would have at least meant she was safe. Mae busied herself cleaning up the remains of their breakfast and started to wash the dishes she had left undone. Dean sat on the edge of the bed studying her movements, wishing he could simply see the one thing that was off with her and solve it.

But now that they were alone, when Dean gave her marching orders, she paused. "Okay, now you need to get some sleep."

"You want me to sleep?"

"C'mon, you know you need it."

"I told you before, I can't."

"I know. Last time you went to sleep, you woke up somewhere else. Well, I'm here now and I'm not going to let you sleep walk across state lines. If something is taking you, I'll stop it."

Mae hesitated, turning off the running water but not moving to face Dean.

"Me and Sam are going to need to sleep too if we don't get this taken care of today, okay. We're going to need to sleep in shifts and you're the one who needs it the most right now."

"I can be useful. You don't have to...put me down for my nap."

"Red, this is being useful. Because, you know, you either get sharper because you're not exhausted or..." He didn't need to finish the statement. One some level, his plan to dangle her as bait the only way they had made her more comfortable with the idea.

"You're just going to sit here and watch me sleep?"

"No. I'm gonna make sure you stay here and see if I can't dig anything up on you or anything else."

"But mostly, you're going to see if sleep really does trigger it. What, you think this is an incubus or something?"

Dean shook his head. "I don't know babe. I wish I did. This is...all I've got right now. I'm just hopin' Sammy can find something. I mean, if you haven't been able to figure it out...I don't know that I will."

She laughed a little, stifling a yawn. Sleeping still didn't seem like the right move but it was an appealing offer. "You're pretty smart. I bet you'll do right by me."

"It's a start. Don't make me make you take a nap."

"You like me too much to knock me out."

"I'm not saying I'm going to use force to do it; I'm saying I'll make you too tired to stay awake."

Everything between them the past few weeks felt like a missed opportunity, like a pointless effort in fighting what they should be doing, and she wished they could find their sweet spot again. It wasn't a lack of desire or love or even chemistry that made her keep her distance when all she wanted was to give in to that need. Or even just let him wrap his arms around her and make her feel safe again, if only for a few seconds.

Mae rubbed at her eyes with her finger tips. She was beyond tried. She knew she'd gone without sleep for longer intervals but knew there might be something more affecting her current energy level. Checking the alarm clock by the bed, she noted that it was slightly after 10. She could feel a midday crash ahead of her if she didn't take a nap or load up on more caffeine.

"It's gonna be okay. You know, Sam's a total nerd and will find something." he left out that Bobby was helping them too, "And I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. That's why you called, right?"

She knew he was right because he was able to step up behind her without her noticing until he was there. "You can't do this job if you're not at the top of your game."

His voice sent a shiver up her spine. she turned the water off, dried her hands-on a nearby towel and turned to face him. Dean leaned over and, surprising both, kissed her. It wasn't anything explicit or lewd. It was just a peck but she jarred back, with a sharp breath and she angled away from him more.

"What the hell was that? What are you doing?"

He shook his head. "I-I don't...it just came over me."

"Well, you need to get it under control. You can't do things like that. We...I can't play both angles of this Dean. Not with you and not right now."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"I'm gonna..." she didn't know exactly what she could or should do in that moment. There weren't many places to go to escape him right then, nor did she want to leave or have him leave. She slipped away from him and into the bathroom, leaving Dean to wonder why he always seemed to do the wrong thing at the wrong time with her.

* * *

Mae had to admit, she looked worse for the wear. She felt it too. Maybe she was being targeted by a kitsune, she thought. They were typically solidarity but perhaps she had stumbled on a family or a den. They did have a sense of justice and were known to seek revenge if you wronged them or their family. That was what was happening with the last kitsune so maybe she had attracted another, looking to avenge the fox she had taken out.

That made more sense to her than being possessed or having encountered something entirely new since that job. Of course, there was always the demon question. A demon could be responsible for any of her symptoms and they did have a target on their backs these days. She hadn't forgotten that the demon John summoned had told her he'd be seeing her. It also delighted in tormenting her. Usually it was more explicit torture but this was just as bad as a physical attack. In some ways, it was worse.

If she thought she could take care of this all on her own, she would have asked the boys to leave. She doubted they really would let the case drop but they might have at least left her room. But outside of the motel room, on her own, she was certain she'd have no defense. Whatever was happening to her took her by surprise before, it would again.

She scrubbed her hands over her face. He was right; she needed sleep. He was there to watch over her and she believed him when he said he would do whatever it took to keep her safe, whether she wanted that or not.

* * *

Dean could have kicked himself for trying to kiss her. Her reaction was his fault. He knew he'd given her mixed signals. Hell, he was getting them himself. Almost everything in him wanted to be with her. But there was that little voice in the back of his head that would tell him she wasn't safe with him, that she wasn't safe without him, and that he was selfish for wanting to be with her. All those thoughts competed with his heart and they all seemed true on some level.

So, what was he supposed to do, he wondered? This and he needed to decide if he wanted to be with her or not. That wasn't true, he reminded himself. He had already made that decision. He just didn't know how anymore. He hadn't found his balance yet and wasn't sure that he ever would. But he still wanted her. He still loved her. He wanted to reassure her somehow, comfort her, and he supposed, he wanted to be near her. even under the less than ideal circumstances they were under, he felt calmer just being around her again.

He hadn't anticipated just how much of the ease in being together had been lost. It wasn't just because he'd asked for a break. While it hadn't made her happy, she respected it and he supposed that was his fault too. It was easier to be not be with her when they were apart. It was only hair, he supposed. He'd put her in a similar position when they started this whole thing. He wanted to be with her so much then and she kept putting things on hold.

She told him it was because it was too hard to be with him and fight being with him. She needed space until she felt ready and he had never really given her that. At least Mae had tried. She hadn't called him because she missed him; she called him to help with a job. With their positions reversed now, he wasn't surprised she didn't push him harder. He was surprised that she put up with the way he acted before.

Mae was better at this, he thought. He was just fumbling around at all this emotion stuff, with being close to a woman when it wasn't all about sex. He hadn't realized just how much he would miss that simple, freely given physical intimacy. He missed the way her hand might skim against his when they both reached for something or the way she would touch his back or shoulder when passing by.

He missed the little smiles she gave him when he caught her eye at random times. He missed lying in bed next her. He missed being able to sleep better just because she was near him. He missed the way she smelled.

He wondered when or if that hollow pit in his stomach would go away. If it did, it might have felt like he could be with her. He wanted to be. It was the overwhelming sense of guilt that he felt when they were that stopped him. He wasn't so certain that he should feel the sense of lightness that he did in her presence. He knew that whatever danger she was in would be about the same if he gave into being with her, it was just a convenient excuse and one that she might understand on some level.

It felt like she had been in the bathroom forever but he knew it was only a few minutes. She didn't look at him, only breezing by him to grab her laptop and take a seat at the table.

"C'mon, you can't be mad at me for kissing you. It was a... miscalculation."

She still didn't look up at him. "I'm not mad at you. Kissing me wasn't the miscalculation you made. I like you kissing me, under most circumstances. I miss it. I miss... you. It all seems so awkward and uncomfortable now but I know you must...decide if you want whatever it is that I am to you. I'm not going to pretend I don't feel the way I do."

"Mae...

Mae's frowned deepened. "And I get it, I do. I can't make you feel like it's the right time for us to be together. I just hope that you do. Then you...you kiss me like everything is normal. So, I have to wonder..."

"What?" He asked, just a bit panicked at what she might be wondering.

"Are you only attracted to me when you think I need rescuing?"

"No, of course not. I don't... it just felt right, that's all."

"Not to me."

"Yeah," he raked a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I just..."

"I know." She said softly. "I don't...I don't need a knight in shining armor, okay? I need a friend. I need someone I can trust."

"I'm not that?"

"Of course, you're my friend and I trust you. But if you don't want to be that..."

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."

She sighed, standing up from the table, full of nervous energy on top of the exhaustion. "Dean. I... you're right, I should get some sleep while I can, while you're here to look after me."

"Okay." He held a hand out to her, which she regarded with some skepticism.

"You have to stay awake. You know that, right?"

"Just...do we need to rehash everything? Both of us sleep better together so maybe you'll fall asleep quicker or better If I just sit with you a while."

It was a risk, she thought. Not that he'd take advantage, not that he'd fall asleep even, but that his gentleness and strength all blended as she listened to his heart beat would only make her fall more in love with him. She didn't take his hand but did motion to him, wordlessly asking him to follow her.

After they both removed their boots, she got in under the covers, while Dean remained on top of them. Mae curled into his body, resting her head on his chest. She heard the TV click on and listen to the rapidly changing stations as her eyes closed. His even breathing and heartbeat lulled her to sleep and within minutes she dozed. Then drifted completely to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

The peaceful, easy her breath state now was enviable. Dean couldn't stay in bed with her like this; he'd be too tempted to nap with her. Even now, he felt that siren lure she possessed calling for him to wrap his arms around her and close his eyes. He stroked her hair, hoping she could get at least a few hours or uneventful sleep. If she could, that gave them more time to figure this out. There had to be something they overlooked.

Taking care not to disturb Mae, he eased out from the bed and then resettled her on the pillow. Inclined to tiptoe, he left his boots off, as he grabbed her notebook and laptop. Over the past few months, understanding her shorthand had become easier. Perhaps he should have checked with her first before reading her private notes, though he didn't think she kept her innermost thoughts.

Reading another hunters thoughts and research was still strangely intimate, even Mae's. That was what they were, weren't they? Dean had long since stopped identifying intimacy as just the physical kind with her. With Mae, for reasons he couldn't even begin to identify, the other kinds came almost as easy. It was uncomfortable but it came without having to try. So why, he wondered, didn't it come easily now?

He stood, watching her sleep for several moments before taking a seat next to her on the bed. He propped himself up against the headboard and stretched his long legs out. Setting the laptop on his thighs, Dean started digging into where Mae could have been, what she could have done.

Only so much could be done from the relative safety of the room. While he didn't want to leave her, he wanted to get out and do something. Anything. He was going stir crazy playing the waiting game. He needed to do something other than watching to make sure she was okay. But there was nothing to do yet, not while Sam was out and not while Mae was still in danger.

He could have taken her with him, he supposed, but that left her vulnerable and not knowing what was after her or impacting her, there were too many variables in that proposition. It might also be a detriment to have her at his side because if she had done something good, bad, or indifferent, she'd be noticed.

In Dean's opinion, Mae stood out. She was tall, slim but well-muscled, and attractive. In the outfits she'd been wearing, her collection of tattoos would not have stayed hidden. He would have given her more than a second glance. She had a certain edge to her that even when she was pretending to be someone else, she couldn't completely hide. He liked it; that edge was honest and real. That edge made her sweetness even more apparent. He shook his head.

An unexpected thread of jealousy slipped through his mind at the thought of another man looking at her the same way he would. He knew she'd chide him about it and perhaps he deserved it. After all, they hadn't discussed seeing other people, sleeping with other people really. There wasn't anyone else he wanted to be with in any long-term sense. Even having pushed her away, right after his dad died, he knew it wasn't a long-term thing for him and that he'd need and want her in his life again. But he'd never told her that. Maybe she didn't know.

Looking down at her sleeping form_, _his heart tightened. Mae was an anomaly in his life; he'd never wanted to be with a woman the way he wanted to be with her and he'd almost never known a woman he'd been comfortable enough with to be as honest as he was with her. It was hard to undo all his defense mechanisms to be that way with her now.

Dean sighed, "Of all the things we're good at together, this whole relationship thin isn't one of them, is it Red?"

He didn't expect an answer, didn't want one since she was finally sleeping. He planned to let her sleep if he could and if she would. Any kind of rest would make her less frazzled. A thought and concern came to him as he watched her. Mae didn't seem possessed but maybe she was fighting it. Last time, in Idaho, she'd let herself get possess to draw the feuding demonic spirits.

The spell had impacted them both but she hadn't been possessed until she had permitted it. Maybe it was the protective charms she wore, maybe it was the tattoo she wore. He didn't know enough about either to say for sure what defensive magic had been woven into either. Cautiously, he leaned forward to slide the comforter of her frame. He raised the hem of the shirt she wore to see if it the yantra looked the way it had as they dealt with the spell and spirit demons.

It looked normal, just the intricate pattern in its normal earthy brownish-red color, like henna but permanent. His fingers traced over the lines and her lower back to see if it felt hot, like last time. All he felt was her warm, soft flesh. Impossibly soft for a hunter, he thought.

"Oh, c'mon, man." He groaned slightly, casting an exasperated glance towards the ceiling before his eyes fell to his lap as he felt the rush of blood to his southern regions, "this is when you decide to think a chick is hot?"

Arousal, particularly for Mae, wasn't unwelcome but it was unexpected. It was the first time since his father had passed that he'd felt anything close to normal when it came to women. And, he though, of course Mae was the cause. That had never been an issue with Mae. If they didn't have to figure out what was happening with her, we would have taken this as a sign. It was a sign he didn't entirely need because he already knew he taking a break from her hadn't done anything but make him more miserable and drive an unneeded wedge between them.

He took his hand off her back, covered her back up, and pulled the blanket over her again. With a sigh, he tried to think of anything else to take his mind off the woman, the feel of her skin, or his feelings for her. He only spent a few more minutes trying to go over her notes or track her down. His focus was too scattered.

Instead, he finished inspecting, cleaning, and packing up her gear. If she got territorial over it, he could deal with that better than the restless energy he now had. If he thought it was safe, he would have crawled under the covers with her, gather her close, and nap alongside her. But he knew if he did and something happened to her, he wouldn't forgive himself.

He was grateful to have Sam in tow because he wasn't sure that he was fully equipped to help Mae. He could take care of her but actually being able to figure out what was going on was out of his grasp currently. If he'd been on his own for this, he assumed he'd be able to pull it together for both roles. He wanted to fix this but wasn't sure where to start.

Occasionally, he would cast a glance over to her still sleeping form, just to confirm she hadn't been disturbed by any of the slight noises he made in his efforts to keep busy but quiet. The pair stayed that way, Dean doing busy work and Mae napping until Sam returned. Sam was bursting with an almost giddy energy as he dumped his notes and papers on the table, waking Mae.

Once she was fully awake and everyone had a fresh cup of coffee in hand, Sam got down to business. "Okay, check this out. There's nothing here that seems out of sorts or weird. It might be the most boring town we've ever been in." Sam offered a small smile, which Mae tried to return but her thoughts churned far too much wondering what he might say next, "but about 70 miles west of here in St. George, Utah, I found two guys in the hospital. Both in their 30s, both who seem like they're in their 80s now."

"So that's where we go." Dean concluded.

* * *

They didn't rush to get on the road but thanks to Dean's nearly domestic actions earlier made it simple to pack up the rest of Mae's things. After all, aside from her gear, she didn't have clothing or many personal items. Dean lent her his sweatpants since she was painfully uncomfortable in the clothes she had left.

Sam led the way in their car. Mae didn't grouse about someone else driving her car and that worried Dean. Normally, she would have. At the very least, she would have insisted on driving herself but as they cleaned up the motel room and packed everything up, she became increasingly withdrawn.

"You remember anything about St. George?"

Mae didn't turn her head or make any effort to take her eyes off the landscape passing by. "No. I don't remember anything. If I did, I would have told you."

"Hey, I'm just trying to help here."

She sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. I just...this is all my fault, you know? And I have no idea what happened so I can't even fix it. I don't know what I did."

"It's not your fault. You just...maybe you were there but it's not like you did this on purpose."

"I guess." she didn't want to fight even though she knew he was wrong. She didn't want to dwell on what might have happened. she wanted to think more like Dean. He couldn't entirely buy his own line of thinking though. They both knew better than that.

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, eyes narrowed as he tried to come up with the next steps. "Well, maybe it's over, you know? Maybe you just blacked out for a few days and nothing will come of it."

Mae nearly laughed at his hopeful assumption and she offered him a look with a keenly arched brow. "Okay, Pollyanna, well even if that's true, even if I don't wake up six days from now with no memories, I still need to know what's happened. I just have a bad feeling about it. So, if you won't want to help me piece things together, you're free to leave."

"C'mon, we're in this together now. I wasn't saying that I didn't want to help. I'm stumped too Red. You didn't leave much of a trail and I don't know that your bad feeling helps us out that much. We're trying to solve a case that doesn't have any easy clues. But we'll figure it out."

"I'm just not hopeful enough to think this was a one-time thing. I'm not possessed but I don't feel like myself. I can tell you that right now, I'm totally in control of me but at some point, I wasn't. I don't know if something will make that happen again or when it might happen." She shook her head. "I wish there was something I could do to push those memories back into my head. I don't remember anything and... if Sam is right about the one lead we have, then it seems like I fucked up on my last job and now...I'm the reason more people are dying."

Dean would have disputed the claim, not because it didn't appear like she was involved but because it wasn't her fault. He knew her well enough to know it would any point he might make about her role would be ignored. The yawn that escaped her mouth then made her seem impossibly small and much younger than she was. "Maybe try to sleep a little more. We've got about an hour before we're anywhere."

"No. I'm fine. Maybe some more coffee. Or a fist full of Adderall."

He cleared his throat. "We're all going to need to sleep sometime," He said, in far too fatherly a tone for her liking.

"Let's hope we solve this first. That's my plan anyway."

* * *

Dean met her half way on her request for coffee and Adderall; the drive to Utah was uneventful but when they reached the next motel, he made sure she was fill up with what might have been an unhealthy amount of caffeine. Again, she didn't protest when he paid for a room and only got them the single room. He was prepared to defend the decision but she didn't even ask. Usually, she had her own room but perhaps she was worried enough that she felt safer with them than on her own, he thought.

It was early in the afternoon and there was still time to get started. He changed into a suit. As much as he loathed the thing, they did lend them a more professional air. Since he decided to take a law enforcement approach to looking into the possible cases Sam had found, it seemed like the best idea. Going by himself would also let him focus more on the job and less on Mae. Right now, she was a distraction, as were his feeling for her. While he wanted to keep Mae safe, being pent up with her while Sam was out doing real work was too much right then. Maybe it would have been different if they had at least been still having sex.

Even though Mae felt all of this was her fault, Dean was convinced it was his. At least part of it was. He was no longer sure why he thought taking a break would do anything for either of them. If he had been able to think more about her feelings, maybe they could have come to a better compromise that didn't leave either of them out on their own. Worrying about Mae helped distract him from his feelings about losing his father. At the same time, she made the pain less. Somehow, he felt better with her than when they were apart.

* * *

Mae felt like she was being passed off between the brothers but was glad not to be alone. It was possible that Dean was right and the worst was over. It was possible but not probable. The change in location could have helped. Having the boys with her now could have stopped things. She didn't know and without more of a sign of what was happening or something happening to her, they might never know. But she was glad to have Sam and Dean with her now.

She wouldn't mind being left with Sam if it didn't mean that she was left missing Dean. As much as he could annoy her, anger her, or hurt her, he was able to comfort, soothe, and draw out a part of her heart she'd convinced herself was dead. And when she was around him, she didn't want to be anywhere else or with anyone else. No matter what had happened to or between them, she was inexplicably drawn to him.

Most of the time, she thought Dean felt the same way. Except now. While she could understand his thinking, she didn't agree with it because it seemed to prolong and extend his suffering. Maybe he couldn't see past that right now. She could understand that too and had made similar choices in the past. Her ability to understand how he was feeling and perhaps what he was thinking did nothing to make her feel better about it.

"Are the two of you okay?" Sam's voice interrupted her thoughts as she took a seat across from him at the small, round kitchen table that occupied the kitchen area of this motel room.

The question took her aback. Sam usually tried to mind his own business when it came to his brother's romantic life. The boys were fiercely protective of each other and she knew she was as much a threat to Dean's happiness as she was a blessing. She was certain she heard a mild warning against playing games with Dean when Sam spoke. But maybe she was reading into the question. His eyes were full of concern.

"I don't know, man. I... I'm guess he's talk to you about this more than he's talked to me."

"No. He just said you wouldn't want to see him anymore."

Mae scoffed. "That's not exactly accurate. I'm not the one putting the brakes on this time. I know how...I mean, even under ideal circumstances, Dean was going to get hit hard by your dad dying. This is...something else. I'm trying to give him space since it was either that or just sit around waiting for him. Even with the last few days, I'd rather be doing something than just waiting for him to decide I'm worth it on his schedule. Has-never mind." She shook her head as she stared at her coffee cup.

"What?"

She wrestled with the question in her mind before she just went ahead with it. The worse that would come of it was Sam trying to hem and haw his way through a non-answer. "Has he said anything more to you? About me or your dad? Or anything really?"

"No but...I'm not sure that he would talk to me about anything right now. Not after dad. I don't think he knows how to deal with it. I know he doesn't know how to deal with it. He really hasn't been himself."

"Yeah." She had guessed as much, "How are you holding up?"

Sam shrugged, feeling oddly embarrassed when she turned the conversation back to him. "Oh, you know."

"Dude, you're allowed to talk about it too. And while we had our issues, he wasn't my dad and I'm not going to take whatever you say the same way Dean would."

"I know. I just don't know exactly how to answer that question. It's...there's still a part that

hasn't sunk in. Like, like it would be just like dad to have figured out a way to come back from the dead or something. There's a part of me that's half expecting him to call or walk through the door or... but the other part knows that won't happen. I thought there was always a chance that maybe we could make it better at some point. Or that it wouldn't matter."

"But it does."

"Yeah. So now the only thing I can do is make sure that no one else has to go through what we went through. It's what he'd want and I guess it's what I need now."

To his surprise, Mae chuckled. "No going back to the real world?"

"Not now. Not until...I don't know what. Maybe never."

"But maybe something will change in the future."

"What, you're trying to talk me out of the life?"

She shook her head. "Hunt. Don't hunt. Just do either for the right reason."

The room grew quiet and Sam started to put together his next set of leads to follow up on once Dean returned from talking with the local law enforcement. He knew his brother could handle that task but worried he might be too aggressive, too dismissive without him. But for the time being, they needed to take these things on separately, until they understood how much danger Mae was to herself or others. This would have been much easier if all three of them could be out working to put the case together.

"Can I ask you something weird?"

His brow arched and he couldn't even predict where she might be heading with this one but assumed it was about what he'd come up with so far. The two of them hadn't had much time to talk about it. "I guess."

"Don't worry, it's not really personal or anything. I just...do you think it's totally stupid, me and Dean. Not personally but even trying for something like a relationship. Hell, I don't know that I want a relationship but...well, I like being with him. If he were someone else, yeah, I wouldn't but...here we are. Given everything thing stacked up against us and what we do, is it just foolish to think it's anything but...more thing that will get ruined?

Sam frowned. "I don't know. Honestly, it would be easier to go your separate ways. At least when it comes to how these demons might use us against each other. You'd both get rid of a lot of hassle and annoyances if you just called things off completely. But we're also a good team, all of us and maybe we stand a better chance that way. If you're asking me if I think you and Dean should keep trying, at the risk of walking in on the two of you being gross, yeah. I've told Dean this before but if I had someone who I could...well, I wouldn't give that up just because of the risks. Why are you asking now?"

"Seems like Dean is having second thoughts."

"Are you?"

"Mostly not. but I'm not going to case after someone who doesn't want to be with me."

"He does, trust me." Sam cleared his throat, "Dean's never lost anyone close to him, you know? He's crazy about you and he wants to keep you safe. I think he's coming around on the idea that his initial plan to do that has some flaws."

Mae smirked. It has been a long time since she could say she'd anyone she could talk to about her problems. Sure, Sam was always going to be a difficult confident because he was always going to be Dean's first. For the last few years, her problems had been singular in focus so having 'boy problems' was not something she was well versed in addressing.

She let out a long sigh. "I've never met a hunter who's had a real relationship."

He laughed. "Me either. Maybe you and Dean could be trailblazers. Besides, I like you a lot more than any girl Dean's ever hooked up with."

"Sweet talker." She teased but still smirked. "So, have you found anything interesting?"

"Aside from the two guys who meet the pattern of your last case. I want to look at other cities between there and here but-"

"Any guy who got old'ed to death would have to have made the paper or died because we can't easily get their medical records without at least a little more to go on and there's no good trail on me." she finished.

Sam scrubbed his face a moment. "Yeah, exactly Maybe it's a good thing you were quiet on your way out here."

"I can't imagine it was. But it looks like I must have missed a kitsune. I know I killed one but maybe there were two the whole time. A pair or maybe more. That complicates things."

"If you're right, maybe but wouldn't we just track it down and kill the second one?"

Sam could have timed to the minute when she'd get up to start pacing as she thought. "Maybe. But we also followed what we thought was my trail. It's possible we let that thing an hour behind us. Why come back to the scene of its crime?"

"Maybe it wasn't done. Maybe it never followed you to Fredonia."

"I just trashed the room myself?"

Frowning, Sam searched for something in his knowledge that could contradict her. "You weren't possessed."

"When you got there, I wasn't. I might have been at other points during this game. I don't know that I was. I'm not now. But something is happening to me. Kitsune are notoriously vengeful. If I took a kitsune's partner or family...well, the remaining ones will work to make my life hell."

"Maybe. But if you're right, it doesn't change what we have to do. We find it and stop it."


	8. Chapter 8

The peaceful, easy her breath state now was enviable. Dean couldn't stay in bed with her like this; he'd be too tempted to nap with her. Even now, he felt that siren lure she possessed calling for him to wrap his arms around her and close his eyes. He stroked her hair, hoping she could get at least a few hours or uneventful sleep. If she could, that gave them more time to figure this out. There had to be something they overlooked.

Taking care not to disturb Mae, he eased out from the bed and then resettled her on the pillow. Inclined to tiptoe, he left his boots off, as he grabbed her notebook and laptop. Over the past few months, understanding her shorthand had become easier. Perhaps he should have checked with her first before reading her private notes, though he didn't think she kept her innermost thoughts.

Reading another hunters thoughts and research was still strangely intimate, even Mae's. That was what they were, weren't they? Dean had long since stopped identifying intimacy as just the physical kind with her. With Mae, for reasons he couldn't even begin to identify, the other kinds came almost as easy. It was uncomfortable but it came without having to try. So why, he wondered, didn't it come easily now?

He stood, watching her sleep for several moments before taking a seat next to her on the bed. He propped himself up against the headboard and stretched his long legs out. Setting the laptop on his thighs, Dean started digging into where Mae could have been, what she could have done.

Only so much could be done from the relative safety of the room. While he didn't want to leave her, he wanted to get out and do something. Anything. He was going stir crazy playing the waiting game. He needed to do something other than watching to make sure she was okay. But there was nothing to do yet, not while Sam was out and not while Mae was still in danger.

He could have taken her with him, he supposed, but that left her vulnerable and not knowing what was after her or impacting her, there were too many variables in that proposition. It might also be a detriment to have her at his side because if she had done something good, bad, or indifferent, she'd be noticed.

In Dean's opinion, Mae stood out. She was tall, slim but well-muscled, and attractive. In the outfits she'd been wearing, her collection of tattoos would not have stayed hidden. He would have given her more than a second glance. She had a certain edge to her that even when she was pretending to be someone else, she couldn't completely hide. He liked it; that edge was honest and real. That edge made her sweetness even more apparent. He shook his head.

An unexpected thread of jealousy slipped through his mind at the thought of another man looking at her the same way he would. He knew she'd chide him about it and perhaps he deserved it. After all, they hadn't discussed seeing other people, sleeping with other people really. There wasn't anyone else he wanted to be with in any long-term sense. Even having pushed her away, right after his dad died, he knew it wasn't a long-term thing for him and that he'd need and want her in his life again. But he'd never told her that. Maybe she didn't know.

Looking down at her sleeping form_, _his heart tightened. Mae was an anomaly in his life; he'd never wanted to be with a woman the way he wanted to be with her and he'd almost never known a woman he'd been comfortable enough with to be as honest as he was with her. It was hard to undo all his defense mechanisms to be that way with her now.

Dean sighed, "Of all the things we're good at together, this whole relationship thin isn't one of them, is it Red?"

He didn't expect an answer, didn't want one since she was finally sleeping. He planned to let her sleep if he could and if she would. Any kind of rest would make her less frazzled. A thought and concern came to him as he watched her. Mae didn't seem possessed but maybe she was fighting it. Last time, in Idaho, she'd let herself get possess to draw the feuding demonic spirits.

The spell had impacted them both but she hadn't been possessed until she had permitted it. Maybe it was the protective charms she wore, maybe it was the tattoo she wore. He didn't know enough about either to say for sure what defensive magic had been woven into either. Cautiously, he leaned forward to slide the comforter of her frame. He raised the hem of the shirt she wore to see if it the yantra looked the way it had as they dealt with the spell and spirit demons.

It looked normal, just the intricate pattern in its normal earthy brownish-red color, like henna but permanent. His fingers traced over the lines and her lower back to see if it felt hot, like last time. All he felt was her warm, soft flesh. Impossibly soft for a hunter, he thought.

"Oh, c'mon, man." He groaned slightly, casting an exasperated glance towards the ceiling before his eyes fell to his lap as he felt the rush of blood to his southern regions, "this is when you decide to think a chick is hot?"

Arousal, particularly for Mae, wasn't unwelcome but it was unexpected. It was the first time since his father had passed that he'd felt anything close to normal when it came to women. And, he though, of course Mae was the cause. That had never been an issue with Mae. If they didn't have to figure out what was happening with her, we would have taken this as a sign. It was a sign he didn't entirely need because he already knew he taking a break from her hadn't done anything but make him more miserable and drive an unneeded wedge between them.

He took his hand off her back, covered her back up, and pulled the blanket over her again. With a sigh, he tried to think of anything else to take his mind off the woman, the feel of her skin, or his feelings for her. He only spent a few more minutes trying to go over her notes or track her down. His focus was too scattered.

Instead, he finished inspecting, cleaning, and packing up her gear. If she got territorial over it, he could deal with that better than the restless energy he now had. If he thought it was safe, he would have crawled under the covers with her, gather her close, and nap alongside her. But he knew if he did and something happened to her, he wouldn't forgive himself.

He was grateful to have Sam in tow because he wasn't sure that he was fully equipped to help Mae. He could take care of her but actually being able to figure out what was going on was out of his grasp currently. If he'd been on his own for this, he assumed he'd be able to pull it together for both roles. He wanted to fix this but wasn't sure where to start.

Occasionally, he would cast a glance over to her still sleeping form, just to confirm she hadn't been disturbed by any of the slight noises he made in his efforts to keep busy but quiet. The pair stayed that way, Dean doing busy work and Mae napping until Sam returned. Sam was bursting with an almost giddy energy as he dumped his notes and papers on the table, waking Mae.

Once she was fully awake and everyone had a fresh cup of coffee in hand, Sam got down to business. "Okay, check this out. There's nothing here that seems out of sorts or weird. It might be the most boring town we've ever been in." Sam offered a small smile, which Mae tried to return but her thoughts churned far too much wondering what he might say next, "but about 70 miles west of here in St. George, Utah, I found two guys in the hospital. Both in their 30s, both who seem like they're in their 80s now."

"So that's where we go." Dean concluded.

* * *

They didn't rush to get on the road but thanks to Dean's nearly domestic actions earlier made it simple to pack up the rest of Mae's things. After all, aside from her gear, she didn't have clothing or many personal items. Dean lent her his sweatpants since she was painfully uncomfortable in the clothes she had left.

Sam led the way in their car. Mae didn't grouse about someone else driving her car and that worried Dean. Normally, she would have. At the very least, she would have insisted on driving herself but as they cleaned up the motel room and packed everything up, she became increasingly withdrawn.

"You remember anything about St. George?"

Mae didn't turn her head or make any effort to take her eyes off the landscape passing by. "No. I don't remember anything. If I did, I would have told you."

"Hey, I'm just trying to help here."

She sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. I just...this is all my fault, you know? And I have no idea what happened so I can't even fix it. I don't know what I did."

"It's not your fault. You just...maybe you were there but it's not like you did this on purpose."

"I guess." she didn't want to fight even though she knew he was wrong. She didn't want to dwell on what might have happened. she wanted to think more like Dean. He couldn't entirely buy his own line of thinking though. They both knew better than that.

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, eyes narrowed as he tried to come up with the next steps. "Well, maybe it's over, you know? Maybe you just blacked out for a few days and nothing will come of it."

Mae nearly laughed at his hopeful assumption and she offered him a look with a keenly arched brow. "Okay, Pollyanna, well even if that's true, even if I don't wake up six days from now with no memories, I still need to know what's happened. I just have a bad feeling about it. So, if you won't want to help me piece things together, you're free to leave."

"C'mon, we're in this together now. I wasn't saying that I didn't want to help. I'm stumped too Red. You didn't leave much of a trail and I don't know that your bad feeling helps us out that much. We're trying to solve a case that doesn't have any easy clues. But we'll figure it out."

"I'm just not hopeful enough to think this was a one-time thing. I'm not possessed but I don't feel like myself. I can tell you that right now, I'm totally in control of me but at some point, I wasn't. I don't know if something will make that happen again or when it might happen." She shook her head. "I wish there was something I could do to push those memories back into my head. I don't remember anything and... if Sam is right about the one lead we have, then it seems like I fucked up on my last job and now...I'm the reason more people are dying."

Dean would have disputed the claim, not because it didn't appear like she was involved but because it wasn't her fault. He knew her well enough to know it would any point he might make about her role would be ignored. The yawn that escaped her mouth then made her seem impossibly small and much younger than she was. "Maybe try to sleep a little more. We've got about an hour before we're anywhere."

"No. I'm fine. Maybe some more coffee. Or a fist full of Adderall."

He cleared his throat. "We're all going to need to sleep sometime," He said, in far too fatherly a tone for her liking.

"Let's hope we solve this first. That's my plan anyway."

* * *

Dean met her half way on her request for coffee and Adderall; the drive to Utah was uneventful but when they reached the next motel, he made sure she was fill up with what might have been an unhealthy amount of caffeine. Again, she didn't protest when he paid for a room and only got them the single room. He was prepared to defend the decision but she didn't even ask. Usually, she had her own room but perhaps she was worried enough that she felt safer with them than on her own, he thought.

It was early in the afternoon and there was still time to get started. He changed into a suit. As much as he loathed the thing, they did lend them a more professional air. Since he decided to take a law enforcement approach to looking into the possible cases Sam had found, it seemed like the best idea. Going by himself would also let him focus more on the job and less on Mae. Right now, she was a distraction, as were his feeling for her. While he wanted to keep Mae safe, being pent up with her while Sam was out doing real work was too much right then. Maybe it would have been different if they had at least been still having sex.

Even though Mae felt all of this was her fault, Dean was convinced it was his. At least part of it was. He was no longer sure why he thought taking a break would do anything for either of them. If he had been able to think more about her feelings, maybe they could have come to a better compromise that didn't leave either of them out on their own. Worrying about Mae helped distract him from his feelings about losing his father. At the same time, she made the pain less. Somehow, he felt better with her than when they were apart.

* * *

Mae felt like she was being passed off between the brothers but was glad not to be alone. It was possible that Dean was right and the worst was over. It was possible but not probable. The change in location could have helped. Having the boys with her now could have stopped things. She didn't know and without more of a sign of what was happening or something happening to her, they might never know. But she was glad to have Sam and Dean with her now.

She wouldn't mind being left with Sam if it didn't mean that she was left missing Dean. As much as he could annoy her, anger her, or hurt her, he was able to comfort, soothe, and draw out a part of her heart she'd convinced herself was dead. And when she was around him, she didn't want to be anywhere else or with anyone else. No matter what had happened to or between them, she was inexplicably drawn to him.

Most of the time, she thought Dean felt the same way. Except now. While she could understand his thinking, she didn't agree with it because it seemed to prolong and extend his suffering. Maybe he couldn't see past that right now. She could understand that too and had made similar choices in the past. Her ability to understand how he was feeling and perhaps what he was thinking did nothing to make her feel better about it.

"Are the two of you okay?" Sam's voice interrupted her thoughts as she took a seat across from him at the small, round kitchen table that occupied the kitchen area of this motel room.

The question took her aback. Sam usually tried to mind his own business when it came to his brother's romantic life. The boys were fiercely protective of each other and she knew she was as much a threat to Dean's happiness as she was a blessing. She was certain she heard a mild warning against playing games with Dean when Sam spoke. But maybe she was reading into the question. His eyes were full of concern.

"I don't know, man. I... I'm guess he's talk to you about this more than he's talked to me."

"No. He just said you wouldn't want to see him anymore."

Mae scoffed. "That's not exactly accurate. I'm not the one putting the brakes on this time. I know how...I mean, even under ideal circumstances, Dean was going to get hit hard by your dad dying. This is...something else. I'm trying to give him space since it was either that or just sit around waiting for him. Even with the last few days, I'd rather be doing something than just waiting for him to decide I'm worth it on his schedule. Has-never mind." She shook her head as she stared at her coffee cup.

"What?"

She wrestled with the question in her mind before she just went ahead with it. The worse that would come of it was Sam trying to hem and haw his way through a non-answer. "Has he said anything more to you? About me or your dad? Or anything really?"

"No but...I'm not sure that he would talk to me about anything right now. Not after dad. I don't think he knows how to deal with it. I know he doesn't know how to deal with it. He really hasn't been himself."

"Yeah." She had guessed as much, "How are you holding up?"

Sam shrugged, feeling oddly embarrassed when she turned the conversation back to him. "Oh, you know."

"Dude, you're allowed to talk about it too. And while we had our issues, he wasn't my dad and I'm not going to take whatever you say the same way Dean would."

"I know. I just don't know exactly how to answer that question. It's...there's still a part that

hasn't sunk in. Like, like it would be just like dad to have figured out a way to come back from the dead or something. There's a part of me that's half expecting him to call or walk through the door or... but the other part knows that won't happen. I thought there was always a chance that maybe we could make it better at some point. Or that it wouldn't matter."

"But it does."

"Yeah. So now the only thing I can do is make sure that no one else has to go through what we went through. It's what he'd want and I guess it's what I need now."

To his surprise, Mae chuckled. "No going back to the real world?"

"Not now. Not until...I don't know what. Maybe never."

"But maybe something will change in the future."

"What, you're trying to talk me out of the life?"

She shook her head. "Hunt. Don't hunt. Just do either for the right reason."

The room grew quiet and Sam started to put together his next set of leads to follow up on once Dean returned from talking with the local law enforcement. He knew his brother could handle that task but worried he might be too aggressive, too dismissive without him. But for the time being, they needed to take these things on separately, until they understood how much danger Mae was to herself or others. This would have been much easier if all three of them could be out working to put the case together.

"Can I ask you something weird?"

His brow arched and he couldn't even predict where she might be heading with this one but assumed it was about what he'd come up with so far. The two of them hadn't had much time to talk about it. "I guess."

"Don't worry, it's not really personal or anything. I just...do you think it's totally stupid, me and Dean. Not personally but even trying for something like a relationship. Hell, I don't know that I want a relationship but...well, I like being with him. If he were someone else, yeah, I wouldn't but...here we are. Given everything thing stacked up against us and what we do, is it just foolish to think it's anything but...more thing that will get ruined?

Sam frowned. "I don't know. Honestly, it would be easier to go your separate ways. At least when it comes to how these demons might use us against each other. You'd both get rid of a lot of hassle and annoyances if you just called things off completely. But we're also a good team, all of us and maybe we stand a better chance that way. If you're asking me if I think you and Dean should keep trying, at the risk of walking in on the two of you being gross, yeah. I've told Dean this before but if I had someone who I could...well, I wouldn't give that up just because of the risks. Why are you asking now?"

"Seems like Dean is having second thoughts."

"Are you?"

"Mostly not. but I'm not going to case after someone who doesn't want to be with me."

"He does, trust me." Sam cleared his throat, "Dean's never lost anyone close to him, you know? He's crazy about you and he wants to keep you safe. I think he's coming around on the idea that his initial plan to do that has some flaws."

Mae smirked. It has been a long time since she could say she'd anyone she could talk to about her problems. Sure, Sam was always going to be a difficult confident because he was always going to be Dean's first. For the last few years, her problems had been singular in focus so having 'boy problems' was not something she was well versed in addressing.

She let out a long sigh. "I've never met a hunter who's had a real relationship."

He laughed. "Me either. Maybe you and Dean could be trailblazers. Besides, I like you a lot more than any girl Dean's ever hooked up with."

"Sweet talker." She teased but still smirked. "So, have you found anything interesting?"

"Aside from the two guys who meet the pattern of your last case. I want to look at other cities between there and here but-"

"Any guy who got old'ed to death would have to have made the paper or died because we can't easily get their medical records without at least a little more to go on and there's no good trail on me." she finished.

Sam scrubbed his face a moment. "Yeah, exactly Maybe it's a good thing you were quiet on your way out here."

"I can't imagine it was. But it looks like I must have missed a kitsune. I know I killed one but maybe there were two the whole time. A pair or maybe more. That complicates things."

"If you're right, maybe but wouldn't we just track it down and kill the second one?"

Sam could have timed to the minute when she'd get up to start pacing as she thought. "Maybe. But we also followed what we thought was my trail. It's possible we let that thing an hour behind us. Why come back to the scene of its crime?"

"Maybe it wasn't done. Maybe it never followed you to Fredonia."

"I just trashed the room myself?"

Frowning, Sam searched for something in his knowledge that could contradict her. "You weren't possessed."

"When you got there, I wasn't. I might have been at other points during this game. I don't know that I was. I'm not now. But something is happening to me. Kitsune are notoriously vengeful. If I took a kitsune's partner or family...well, the remaining ones will work to make my life hell."

"Maybe. But if you're right, it doesn't change what we have to do. We find it and stop it."


	9. Chapter 9

The pair set up at the table, covering it with more papers and both of their laptops. She thought perhaps she could catch an hour or two of sleep but, to her dismay, she found came with less ease without Dean nearby. She decided to work the job instead.

"So, you're sure we're dealing with a second kitsune?" Sam asked, knowing she hadn't suggested many other possibilities while he had thrown out a handful of theories. Admittedly, he was coming around to that possibility as well but didn't want to rule anything out or decide to follow the wrong trail.

"I'm certain I killed one of them." She took a deep, thoughtful sigh, "But maybe there was a den or something. Hell, there could be more than one."

Sam cringed. "That's not a possibility I want to entertain."

"Yeah. Well..." Mae shifted, rubbing the back of her neck in disease, "A kitsune mostly makes sense to me. I mean, why else would some other thing target me so specifically?"

"Could be a demon. Could be the demon."

"Could be. But...I know this doesn't mean much, it doesn't feel like a demon. Does it feel like a demon to you?"

"No." Sam finally said, not sure if he was relieved by the idea or not. "I haven't had any dreams or visions either. So... have you seen a fox running around? Maybe we should check animal control reports or something?"

Mae looked over her notes, as if she hadn't memorized them already. "It's worth a shot."

Her tone was level, in not mildly distracted. "You don't seem convinced."

"No, it's a good idea. But some of them can shape shift and you can't tell them apart from whatever they've shape shifted to unless they're drunk, which is how I found the last one. When her true form was revealed, she shifted back into a fox and ran off into the woods. Some look like foxes all the time. Some of them are invisible unless they've possessed you and then you can see them."

Sam's pressed his lips together, part because he was impressed by her detailed research of kitsune and part because it didn't give them much more than they already had. "Then let's hope we don't see one."

"Yeah," she mumbled.

Sam assessed that the redhead had fully shifted into some thought process she wasn't willing or able to discuss with him yet. While Dean was out checking up on the two hits Sam had found that had ties to Mae's last job, She and Sam kept poring over what they could find online, information on the two men currently in the hospital, and the past week of newspapers for anything that popped out as suspect.

It was several hours later when Dean returned. It was only then that Mae realized that she hadn't moved from her place at the table. She took a moment to lace her fingers together and stretch her arms over her head until her spine gave a satisfying crack. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sam make a similar move but her main focus was on the plastic bags Dean carried. He tucked his keys into his pocket with one hand as he raised the bags in offering with the other.

"Hope you're still hungry."

"God yes." Mae said more to herself than anyone else.

"Well, if we can't figure this out, I'm putting you in the competitive eating circuit."

The tight-lipped glare she gave him was more for show than out of actual annoyance and that brought a small smirk to Dean's lips.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Joke all you want, pal. I'd clean up and I'm pretty sure there's a cash prize."

Standing, she gathered her papers, shut her laptop, and grabbed the materials to place them on one of the beds. Then stepping up to Dean, she tried to relieve him of the bag. At first, he kept his hold on it while he studied her face. She looked less frantic, perhaps slightly more worried, or frustrated, and maybe just a little more rested but only slightly. Before her eyes narrowed or she questioned him, he let the bag slide easily onto her hand from his.

"Okay then."

"What did you get?" Sam couldn't tell what his brother had picked up as Mae too it over to the small kitchen area of the room but there seemed to be more than they would possibly eat. He was more concerned about the quality of the food rather than the quantity. He rarely trusted Dean's concept of healthy eating.

"Mexican. Don't worry, Susan, I got you some kinda chick salad." At least somethings would remain the same, Sam thought as he gave his brother a deadpan thanks. "And for the lady eating for two, tacos and tamales."

"You know, you're not gonna get a very good tip with an attitude like that Sparky." Mae said, freeing the to-go containers and plastic flatware from the plastic bag. It smelled better than it should have and while she wanted to claim she wasn't nearly as ravenous as she had been, her stomach growled loudly in protest and anticipation.

"Oh, watching you eat like a long-haul trucker is tip enough."

Mae's lips twitched, a sharp rejoinder on her tongue as she set the food and utensils on the table and sat back in the chair, she had recently vacated.

"Okay so what did you find Dean?" Sam changed the subject.

Dean nodded as he took a seat at the table as well. "Well, the good news is if this is Mae, there are no police records on her or anyone identifying anyone matching her description involved in anything over the past week."

"What's the bad news?" Mae asked, opening her container of food, and held off from shoving everything in her mouth as quickly as she could.

"Same thing. We've got bread crumbs but whatever this is, you either didn't leave much of a trail or you covered it."

"So, the theory is I was completely out of it but still making sure it didn't look like I was here?"

Dean shrugged, busying himself with his own meal. "I don't know, maybe. Maybe not."

A flare of temper came with the annoyance of the situation for Mae. "We're still at square one, just in a different place."

"Maybe not," Sam interjected, "We're here because we have two guys who look like they've been attacked the same way the victims on your last job. They just ended up in the hospital but that means something must have happened before then. And you didn't leave a trail so maybe you were hunting this kitsune, or whatever it is."

"Then why don't I remember any of that? Why were my clothes trashed? What was up with the booze?" She sighed, "I mean, maybe I was possessed prior to that and it just got tired of me."

A hot and nauseating thought spiraled around Dean's brain before he finally spoke it aloud. "Maybe not possessed, maybe infected."

Mae took a sharp, short breath before she pinned him with a hard stare. She wasn't angry and she wasn't scared but Dean wasn't sure what emotion passed through her pretty eyes before she exhaled. "I... I would have noticed a bite or a scratch."

"Really? It looked like you had a few scratches that are almost healed."

Then annoyance flashed in that stone gray. "Yeah, rocks and branches from the fight. Nothing from the fox. Besides, it doesn't even work that way."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked.

She wasn't but didn't reply. Her eyes cast down for a moment at her food, suddenly an appraising prospect. "We have a big problem then, if that's possible. if that's what happened."

"It wasn't that long ago. We could probably see a bite or scratch, Red."

"I haven't seen anything."

"You can't see all of you."

That gained Dean a glare from both Sam and Mae but his gaze was still on the woman. "Now you're just saying that because you want to see me naked."

"I can want more than one thing."

Mae rolled her eyes, an indignant huff still on her lips. She grumbled, trying to eat a little more but with no real passion or enjoyment of the meal.

"I'm serious Maes. If you don't want me to check, then Sammy can but we need to know."

"And you don't believe me when I say I wasn't bitten or scratched?"

"I believe you don't think you were and that you don't remember it happening. But I also believe you've blacked out for a few days here. Coulda happened during that lost time and you may not have checked all over."

He was right, she thought as annoyance colored her thoughts. While she hadn't found any reference for kitsune being able to transmit the transformation to one through a bite or a scratch, the fact that they could shape-shift left the door open. And Dean was even more correct in his assessment that she hadn't been able to check over her entire body. She hadn't done that. She had applied antibiotic ointment to the worst of the scrapes after she closed the case but to her knowledge, to her remembrance of the event, she didn't recall that she had been bitten or scratched by the fox. That didn't mean it didn't happen.

And then, if they found some implication that she'd been bitten and was perhaps turning, what were they going to do about it? The only surefire treatment for any sort of shape-shifting infection of curse was to kill the victim. Silver bullet to the heart. When she called Dean and Sam, her intention wasn't to put them in that positions. But if she needed to be dealt with, she at least trusted that Sam would do it, if they had run out of other options. If the task were left to Dean, she wasn't sure he could pull the trigger.

"Fine." She ground the word out, more forcefully than she meant, "Let's at least eat first. I'm not going to turn into an energy stealing fox right now."

* * *

They all ate, with little important conversation before she and Dean adjourned to the bathroom so he could check her for any injury she may have over looked.

"Let's just get this over." Once the door was closed, she opened the front of her shirt, Dean's shirt, she reminded herself. Under other circumstances, this could possibly fun. If not fun then at least not weird. But that air of awkward familiarity and distance filled the air.

Mae didn't realize her eyes had slammed shut and head turned to the side as she held the garment to expose herself to his gaze until his hands fell on her waist, warm and firm and she snapped her attention back to him. Dean paused, waiting for her to tell him to stop. She didn't. Instead, she took a quick breath, closed her eyes lightly and tilted her head up towards the ceiling.

He didn't have to touch her. But he did. Her skin was soft, over hard muscles that only tensed slightly. She smelled intoxicating. She had never been a perfume girl but a sweet, somewhat floral fragrance mingled with her own natural scent. Not floral, he though, herbal. It occurred to Dean, that whatever she wore or used, maybe soap or an oil was probably laden with the colorful flowers and herbs that she grew around her house and was likely some form of protection, like laying down a line of salt or drinking holy water. Not a bad idea. Plus, she smelled good.

Because she didn't say no, he let his hands smooth over her skin as he looked for any bites or scratches, fresh or healing. He also tried to convince his body not to respond with such eager need at the mere sight of her. It didn't surprise him this time. He almost anticipated it because Mae was right; he did want to see her naked again. He wanted to be with her again. This however was perhaps the least opportune time to express that. He checked her torso, avoiding any areas that seemed like he was just groping her for fun. He was quick, efficient.

"Legs next. Panties too, girl." He tried to add a little bit of levity. Unsuccessfully.

She opened her eyes, pinned him with a narrowed glare. "Don't be gross."

Then she sighed and let the worn flannel of his fall around her chest. She until the strings of her also borrowed sweatpants, pushing them down before closing her eyes again, and trying not to think about anything. His hands stroked down the front and sides of her long legs, quickly brushed between her legs, again without touching her in way that might make her feel even more uncomfortable.

"Turn."

She did and his hands ran back up her calves and thighs, over the rounded hills of her backside. His touch was almost clinical, which was not something she expected from him at all. She appreciated the care he took to keep things on that level but she also knew there was nothing he could do to make her body not long for the slower, firmly more possessive touch, if he was going to put his hands on her.

To her relief, he pulled her pants up for her, rather than making her bend down. "We're almost done, Show me your back."

With her back towards him, she let the shirt slide down. His hands repeated the searching motion over her shoulders, her back, her arms. "Can you turn this on or off?"

The question was odd to her but he tapped on the yantra on her lower back, which didn't entirely clarify the question but gave her a better idea what he was talking about. "It's not a light switch."

"You said it was for protection. But you've been possessed while you had it so...maybe it doesn't work."

She shook her head. "I think it does, as much as any symbol does. Last time was...different. I think if I agreed to it and there's a powerful enough counter spell, the yantra can be... over powered. Not turned off."

"Did you make deal with a kitsune?"

A frown creased her face. "No, to my knowledge. So...am I cursed?"

"Not that I can tell."

Mae tugged the shirt more securely around her shoulders and began buttoning it closed. Her hands came to a pause when his hand bushed her hair out from under the collar and the fingers of his other hand slid gently over her neck. She couldn't stop the goose flesh from rising, hoping he would say nothing. He stayed silent but moved his hands to check over her scalp as well, just to be safe. When he was sure he had checked everything he could, he put his hands on her shoulders, stepping as close to her as he could without pressing himself against her.

"You're good," He whispered against her ear.

It wasn't sexual, at all. But a shiver of arousal moved down her spine and her body and brain demanded that she spin around, kiss him hard, and make him undress her. This was not a good model for taking a break, for keeping their distance. She was certain they couldn't do that anyway if they were in the same place. She couldn't tell if that was his plan, to try to seduce her in this way or if it was simply the way she reacted to him. Mae let out a shaky but quiet sigh as his hands dropped away and she heard the door open.


	10. Chapter 10

Once again, they traded the information they had and tried to come up with something they hadn't already thought about. Three minds were supposed to be better than one. But they were all running on empty at that point and, in lieu of new information or finding, they didn't have much to go on. In some ways, they had too much of what they didn't need and too little of what they wanted.

Dean's instinct was to leave, not because he wanted to abandon the job and leave it unfinished but because he knew, deep down, he couldn't keep Mae safe. They were chasing their own tails and hampered by their inability to predict how this creature would act. Maybe Mae was right and this was a kitsune she hadn't accounted for or known about. His gut said they needed to look for what else might be behind her missing days and the possibly related cases. He still feared the worst.

He was off, not quite thinking clearly, knowing something was missing. It seemed they all were but there was nothing he could put his finger on. Now that it was night and he and Sam had been up for more than 24 hours at that point, he knew they would all need sleep. Mae knew it too. She was getting antsy, shifting in her chair more, roughly brushing her hair away from her face.

"I don't know Red, maybe you aren't involved at all. Maybe you just had one hell of an epic bender."

"It's-Are you trying to write this off because you think I'm not involved? Or because you don't want me to be involved?"

"No, I'm trying to make sure we don't waste out time just because you think something awful might have happened. If you were involved, you were involved and we deal with it. Until then, this is just a weird thing we need to investigate. Like any other job."

Dean fixed her with a hard stare, daring her to argue with him on this point. However, perhaps because it was late, perhaps because he hadn't been watching the exchange between the pair, Sam spoke, earning him an equally sharp glare from his brother.

"What about here?"

"What about here?" Dean responded. "No one's dead here."

"Yet." Mae added. "C'mon, the pattern fits. And you don't have a better theory."

"It seems like we have a better trail here. Someone might even recognize Mae, which could be what we need. Or...it could be problematic."

Dean's expression didn't change but his eyes darkened as he thought about the possibilities. After several moments, he sighed. "Yeah, fine, you're right."

"Okay, so we'll talk to friends and family tomorrow, try to figure out where those guys have been, what they did, and if that take that next."

"It'll be slow goin', we can't leave Mae on her own. No offense Red."

She shrugged. "No, I get it. Nothing new had happened though. I think if someone is with me. and I've got some new clothes," she added, "It should be fine. I can still pull my weight. But it's not like we can do much more tonight."

Sam's eyes narrowed. "Hey, do you have any of your books on creatures and stuff in your car?"

"Yeah, I think so," Mae nodded but her lips pressed together in confusion. She paused, habitually reaching to her side to tuck her hand in the pocket of the jacket that should have been hanging on the back of the chair. But it wasn't there and she remembered Sam still had her keys. She sighed. "In the trunk. Take whatever else you think we might need."

Mae didn't watch him but tracked the almost soundless fall of his feet as he crossed to the door, opened it and, after an unexpected shiver at the cooler air drifted into the room, listened to the door close softly. She didn't look back to Dean either and could feel his eyes on her. If they kept talking, they'd only end up fighting. She let her eyes close, slumping back in the chair with a sigh. there would be almost nothing that would keep him quiet if he wanted to talk though.

"Listen, I... this could have happened to any of us."

Now, she wondered, was he trying to pick a fight? She made sure to keep her tone low and even and kept her eyes closed. "That's what I've been saying. I don't know that it was full on a trap but...it was something. I'm willing to admit I might have been careless but I'm not about to let you blame me for not listening to your stupid ultimatum on staying put."

"I wasn't...I'm not trying to guilt you. I just..." he frowned and she thought he looked sadder or perhaps more remorseful than he should have, "I don't want you to blame yourself."

Again, she sighed. "Jobs go south. We fuck up. I might have fucked up this time...and all I can do now is try to make it right and make it stop."

"Yeah, okay. I was just...trying to make things better."

"It'll be better when it's over." It sounded harsh, even to her ears, "I mean this job, not...you know. And, if I haven't said it, I appreciate you dropping whatever you were doing to help me here."

"Well...it's not like I would have said no."

They let the silence fall between them again, until Sam returned at any rate. He hadn't completely raided the trunk but had brought in about half of the books and a few more weapons. Was he that worried, she wondered? They were well armed already and if this were a kitsune, all they would need would be blades. She hadn't been in the practice of using the rock salt ammo, despite it being a brilliant idea so she hadn't tested it with the first one. It wouldn't kill one but it might slow it down.

Mae stretched, stood, and stretched again. She was weary. And cold. It wasn't a particularly cold night but she didn't over analyze. Instead, she decided it was easier to try and sleep. Last time she napped, nothing bad happened. Another two or three hours was better than nothing. They could rotate.

While she stretched, Sam set the items he retrieved down on the table. Mae anticipated that Sam would sit down and get right to work. Instead, he brushed his hands off on his jeans and announced, 'Well, I'm gonna grab a quick shower."

She thought for a moment about diving back into the research. But what more was she going to find right now? She made her way to the bed, assuming she and Dean would once again share.

"You wanna fool around while Sammy's not in the room?"

"Dude, no!" Her face was turned up, partially in confusion. Most of it eased when Dean laughed at her reaction but her lips remained turned down. "What is your problem?"

"I'm just trying to ease the tension. Lighten up a bit." Dean stood now too, taking the chance to clear off the table of empty containers and dirty cups. He threw the trash away and placed the dishes in the sink before taking a moment to straighten his gear.

"I'm...it's just late and you're weird."

"In that case, we should figure out our sleep schedule. We all need at least a little sleep. So, what, we take shifts?"

"I'm not that tired," Mae lied. But she knew the boys hadn't slept since she called Dean and they were both just on the edge of exhaustion. Awake over 24 hours now. They all needed sleep. Shifts would have been enough to allow all of them short bursts of sleep.

"Just...can you just go along with this for once? I'm too tied to fight you to sleep."

"I have never seen you try so hard to get me into bed." Sarcasm dripped from her words.

She expected a little smile but didn't get one. "You look like shit, Mae. Really, you've been awake for days. You're pale and you've got dark circles under your eyes. You're gonna start getting punchy and useless to us. You need to sleep too, okay?"

Her instinct was to smooth her hair, try to fix her wild look but she stilled her hands. She didn't want it to bother her. Since it did, she didn't want to show it. She wanted to change into something...more comfortable. Rather, something her own. The borrowed clothes reminded her too much of Dean, smelled too much like Dean and while she didn't mind that, it suggested that she was safe and could let her guard down. And she couldn't, even in their relative safety now. She should have asked one of the boys to bring her something else to wear or venture out with one of them to pick something up herself. But for tonight, she'd sleep in the sweatpants and button down.

"You ready for bed?"

Mae's brow crinkled in confusion, finding the question odd, given the fact that she had turned down the cover and got in bed. "No, I was gonna build a fort."

"Fine. I was going to give you a choice of which side but if you're gonna be snarky..." he reached over her, and grabbed her left wrist, snapping the metal circle of the handcuffs she hadn't noticed him holding or retrieving. Then he brought both over her head and latched the free side to one of the slats of the headboard.

Her eyes shifted between the man and the handcuffs before finally setting on him. "You can't be serious."

Dean shrugged. "We all gotta sleep and if you're getting out and going on a... fox rampage, at least this will slow you up, if it doesn't stop you."

With a light tug, she tested the cuffs. The link around her wrist was secure but not tight, giving her just enough freedom to move without pain but not enough to be considered completely comfortable. "What if I have to pee?"

"Well, you can either wake me up or..."

She huffed. "I hate this idea."

"Like it's the first time you've been handcuffed to a bed."

* * *

There hadn't been much conversation once Sam came out of the bathroom. He found his brother and Mae both in one bed. Her on the left side, Dean on the right, and Mae cuffed to one of the wooden slats of the bed. He couldn't quite describe the feeling of the room, a little tense, a little awkward but not uncomfortable, aside from the sharp scowl on the woman's face.

Dean clicked through channels on the tv, not settling on anything long enough to even assess what it was. Mae shifted, sliding down further into the covers before she turned on her side. The light on the nightstand between their beds had already been turned off and he didn't bother to turn it back on as he got in bed. There was no need to ask what the plan was, once he noticed the handcuffs. It made things easier, for all of them to sleep, hopefully through the night, rather than switch off between the two of them. There was always the risk that one of them would fall asleep and if Mae weren't restrained, they might lose the one piece to this puzzle they had.

At least this way, if something tried to take Mae or she transformed, they would probably hear something. It wasn't ideal but then nothing was so he didn't push and he didn't question. He only hoped that it would be an uneventful night. From the bed, Sam reached over to the lamp on the nightstand on the other side of the bed and turned it off. He rolled, turning his back to Mae and his brother. After a few minutes, he heard the click of the last lamp turning off, leaving the room illuminated by the blue-white glow of the TV and the low sound of whatever was playing. His mind didn't loop him through overthinking that night. Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow and his eyes close, he was asleep.

* * *

The room was painfully quiet when Mae woke. She hadn't realized she had fallen asleep. It was dark but she wasn't sure how long ago Dean had turned off the tv. She could barely hear both men breathing. She lay in that near silence, trying to make out the rise and fall of Sam's form to see if it seemed like he was asleep. She waited what seemed like hours before she whispered to Dean. "Are you awake?"

Her voice was soft enough that she would not wake him if he had fallen asleep. A part of her hoped he too had drifted off but somehow, she knew he was still awake, fighting that languid draw to unconsciousness for reasons neither wanted to dwell on. It was, as she had noted before, unusually easy to fall asleep with him next to her. She always felt more... complete with him near.

Was that the right word, she questioned. She always questioned the word but not the feeling even though she didn't know how she could feel that way. To her, there wasn't such a thing as soulmates, just people who were better suited to you for however long you were with them. Maybe that was only an hour. But that's not true with Dean and she'd be damned if the word soulmate didn't seem to suit the way she felt.

"You need up?" He must have been just on the edge of sleep, his words spilled out with a slack mouthed ease.

"If I said yes, how would you know it wasn't a trick?"

He grumbled something that wasn't quite a word before he opened his eyes. It was dark and he could barely make out the form of her with her back to him. He tried to determine if it was a trick or not. He hadn't thought of it. No matter what he had proposed earlier, he had an impossible time thinking of her as anything other than Mae. He hadn't really thought that she was possessed, transformed, or anything else. But she could be. No matter he thought about her, she might not be herself.

"I guess I wouldn't."

"Me either. I think I'm me. I don't think I'm possessed and I don't think I've been turned. But...you know, who knows."

Dean sighed, rolling over, towards her now. "Yeah."

Make closed her eyes, trying to picture him now for some reason. the way his face would seem younger, maybe softer, as he relaxed to sleep, curled on his side, with his chest not touching her back but close enough for her to feel his warmth. "If I have been turned, how the hell do we know when I might transform. It doesn't work like a werewolf. I don't think. I mean, this isn't tied to a full moon and..." Mae trailed off at Dean's low chuckle, a question hanging in the air.

"I forgot how annoying you used to be when you start thinking out loud." He smirked imagining the pout on her pretty face, "None of us have that answer Red, certainly not tonight."

The comment wasn't unkind. She thought she could hear the smile in it and it made a fraction of the tension leave her frame. Her voice raised, just a little above the hushed tones they shared. "I'm not-"

"I know. We have a big problem on our hands if you are possessed or infect or whatever. But none of us are ready to deal with it, none of us have the answer right now. So... try to sleep until we have something we can deal with."

"I'm not tired," she whispered again.

"Well I am."

She huffed again but turned to lay on her back, not quite finding a comfortable place for her cuffed arm. Soon after Dean grumbled and shifted a bit closer to her, elongating his body along hers. He started to stroke a hand down her face but catching himself in the moment, he let his fingers drop from her skin. "I forgot how chatty you get. So, get on with it."

"I didn't say anything."

"But you want to."

"No. You're right. There's nothing more we can do tonight with what we know so we might as well try to sleep. And I can't be left on my own right now so I'm stuck here with you, like this. And it's weird."

"It's not weird." He believed his own words. It felt normal to share a bed with her.

"Yes, it is."

He frowned. "Why is it weird?"

"C'mon, you're totally cool with...everything?"

"I mean, I'm not handcuffed but..."

Mae shook her head. "You were right. Get some sleep."

At first, the thought they could ignore talking about both the case and _them_. He knew full well what was bothering her. He hoped to move right past it and pretend he had never asked her to stay out of the way, take a break, and that she hadn't pushed back. "I'm sorry I pushed you into this."

"You didn't push me into anything. I just... ended up here."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"It's a moot point. We're here and like I said before, if you're going to try to make me feel bad about this, then I don't need your help."

"I... I don't know how to keep you safe and I don't know how to deal with that."

"I'm not asking you to keep me safe. You...can't. I'm pretty sure I can't keep you safe either. So... I guess we're stuck like this."

"I don't believe that." Did she want to fight about it? He thought they had covered things well enough and long since agreed that they wouldn't and couldn't agree on this point but for him, having her physically close again made his questions and concerns seem less important than they had even a week ago. "I have to try and maybe you'll put up with me while I figure it all out. But right now, I... we have a job to do. There's something nasty out that that needs hunting so let's do that first."

"Even if it's me?"

Quiet filled the room, with all the unsaid realities of that his answer and all the unasked questions. When Dean finally did answer, his voice was low, even in the whisper. "Yeah, even if it's you."


	11. Chapter 11

Sam's sleepy eyes scanned the room only to get a sense of his whereabouts in the dark. He paused. He couldn't be sure when he had fallen asleep or when he had woken up but it was a chill down his spine and feeling that something was amiss that woke him. Everything seemed normal and he shook it off.

Dean and Mae were both sleeping, her arm still safely cuffed to the headboard and Dean curved protectively around her. He might have thought how odd it was that his brother was so eager to deny that he needed her but unwilling to do what he needed to do to really be free of her. He might have thought that maybe one day Dean would admit to himself that he didn't really want a life of disconnection. But Sam didn't think much about anything in his barely awake state. His feet shuffled with the heaviness, on autopilot.

He fought full wakefulness. Had he not, perhaps he would have listened to that momentary sense of misgiving. Perhaps he would have noticed the pretense of the woman before she was a flicker in the corner of his eye. But she was there, in front of him. Mae. He didn't have much time to think as her eyes caught his. It was too dark to make out much of the woman except for her presence and her eyes. He couldn't really see her eyes. He could feel them, locking with his and... freezing him?

No, he was still able to move, he realized as he opened his mouth to speak until she touched him. "Shhhh," she pressed her fingers against his lips. "Quiet."

He thought, wonder, if her voice was strained, odd. Sam wasn't sure what was wrong with it exactly, what was wrong with her. Her hand moved from his mouth to cup his cheek and then he did feel his body stiffen, against his will. Then it felt like his whole mind softened. There was something quite appealing about her, alluring. A part of his brain screamed at him to do something, anything, to stop her. Everything else in him however over road that. He wanted to give in. He didn't even know what he was giving into but he that's what he wanted.

She smelled earthy and her breath was oddly warm against his lips when her mouth touched his. Somewhere in the distance of his mind, he thought he should push her away or tell her to stop or even call out for help. Instead, he relished the way her lips parted his. Until her tongue pressed forward. His body froze now at the foreign intrusion.

From the outside, it might have looked like a first kiss, hesitant and tender. But she wasn't kissing him as some kind of large, long appendage entered his mouth. He could feel his energy sap and realized that it was Mae or whatever had control over her siphoning his life force, not unlike the striga he and his brother hand encountered. Once again, he fought against her with all of the mental force he could muster until whatever she was doing pushed him into the dark of unconsciousness.

He couldn't call out. His brother was only feet from him and he was powerless to get Dean's attention, powerless to do anything but let this happen. And then, she stopped. He didn't know but he remembered that the sensation stopped before everything went fuzzy and black.

* * *

"Damnit! Sam!" Dean slapped his brother's cheek, trying to jar him awake. it took a few more tries but he did come to, incredibly groggy.

"Wha...?" Sam blinked, a bit discordantly. a headache lingered on the edges of his consciousness and he felt like he'd been hit by a tractor trailer. Again. His brother stood over him.

"Sammy, what the hell happened?"

Sam didn't know, not exactly. He had a vague recollection of waking up and then...something. Something was in the room with them, something attacked him, but he didn't know what or why. "What happened?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"You tell me, pal. You're the one waking up on the floor."

"Yeah. I...Mae?"

Dean's eyes flicked for a moment from Sam to Mae, who was still asleep in the bed. Dean couldn't pinpoint what had awakened him but he had bed wide awake the second his eyes had opened. He tried not to give any indication as he assessed what was going on. Mae was still sound asleep next to him, the room was dark but as he shifted, trying to pretend he was only shifting in his sleep, the bed creaked. After the creak, everything froze. And then he her a thump, followed by...footsteps?

He threw caution to the wind, knowing that any advantage surprise might have given him was gone his hand flew to turn on the light and he caught the flash of...something opening the door and running into the night. His eyes scanned the room, assessing and gathering as much intel as he could as he bolted from the bed. The thump, he surmised, had been his brother, who was now crumpled on the carpet, twitching slightly.

He ran, as much as a motel room would allow someone to run, to his brother's side, checking for a pulse. He was still breathing and while it felt like an eternity, he did find a strong thrum of a heart beat against his fingers. Reaching back to the bed, he shook Mae's foot firmly.

"Red, stay here and check on Sammy."

He didn't check back on her, only grabbing a gun and the room key as he followed in pursuit. In the parking lot, he cursed to himself because his worst instincts rather than training had taken over. The night was quiet, a little slight chill in the air, but that could have been his bare feet and lack of warmer clothing than his underwear and a tee-shirt. Maybe he would have gone further into the night had he not stood in the parking lot for five minutes without seeing any other sign of moment.

Maybe whatever he had seen bolt from the room was just waiting him out or maybe it had made it was far enough from the motel that he wouldn't be able to catch it on foot. But there was no sign that anything was still out there. He still had to worry about whatever happened to Sam. I couldn't be good. After all, every man who'd been attacked by the thing had, at the very least, ended up in the hospital. He knew he'd be lucky if that was the worst thing that happened.

And none of it should have. Maybe it they'd taken shifts, this wouldn't have happened. Dean sighed, heading back to the room. He couldn't go over the missteps right now. He needed to sort out what had happened and make sure that Sam was okay. Hopefully, Mae had been able to bring him around.

"Shit," he cursed to himself, as he opened the door back up. He'd left Mae cuffed to the bed.

She was clever enough to pick the lock and she'd had enough time if she had found something to pick it with. Still, he wasn't that surprised to see her still in bed. What was odd was that she wasn't glowering at him or trying to talk to Sam. He knelt on one knee in front of his brother, who was still on the floor but had managed to gather himself into a sitting position, legs pulled up to his chest, forehead resting on his knees.

"Hey, you okay?" Dean said softly.

Sam shook his head. "I'll get back to you."

"C'mon buddy," Dean said as he helped his brother to his feet and guided him to the unoccupied bed. Sam seemed unsteady still. "Tell me what happened."

Dean sat on the edge of the other bed, patting Mae's hip a bit, trying to rouse her. Sam sat forward, head in his hands. He tried to ignore the worry etched into his brother's face and collect his thoughts. "She jumped me, man."

A frown creased deep into Dean's brow and mouth. "Mae?"

"Yeah. I think so."

Dean shook his head. "She couldn't have. Whatever it was took off. Mae's been here the whole time, right babe?"

He turned to her now, and found her face completely at peace, still in sleep. At least he hoped sleep. Nothing that had happened so far had even disturbed her. He shifted to face her now. He checked her pulse. Still strong. Her breathing was light but if it weren't for her both waking up at all, she looked like she was simply asleep.

"Mae, wake up." He shook her shoulder, gently at first, then with more force. "C'mon, Red."

He leaned over her to grab the key to the handcuffs and he unlocked her the part around her wrist. There were no marks, indicating she might have struggled against the restraint. He rolled her to her back. Cupping her face in one hand, he tried to search for some sort of clue in her pale, passive face. Her skin was a little colder than normal but nothing anyone who didn't know her would note. He eased an eyelid up. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and it told him little. And she still didn't wake. He slapped her face, not hard but enough to bring her around under normal circumstances.

This was bad, he though. Maybe he said it out loud because his brother's voice startled him. "Did...something get to her?"

"I don't know. I... nothing seemed to...I don't know what woke me up but the thing that had you was already done doing whatever it was doing and making a run for it.

"Maybe..." Sam started and trailed off. His mind was still fuzzy, thoughts still out so sequence. He was certain it had been Mae in the dark. But maybe it wasn't. He couldn't be certain and it was too dark to know for sure. The woman, and he was sure it was a woman, didn't seem like Mae, aside from the notion that he thought it had been. "Does she have...an unusually thick tongue?"

Dean turned, scowl on his face more akin to confusion than anger. "What? No. She has completely usual body parts. Why would her tongue be anywhere near you?"

Sam shook his head, scrubbing his hands over his face. "It seemed so much like Mae. I don't know if she...Is she were possessed maybe-"

"There wasn't enough time, not for her to get out of the cuffs, get you, run out of there, and still get back into bed and in the cuff. Plus...it seems like she's out of it."

"I don't know what to tell you. I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came out...she was right there and I couldn't do...anything. Then she started sucking the life force or whatever out of me."

"Dude, there has got to be a better way to say that." Dean said under his breath. "Did you notice anything? Hear anything?"

"No, just that...I knew I should stop her but at the same time, I didn't want to. Whatever she wanted to do to me. And then she did and it was like...I knew I was dying but didn't care. Then it just stopped and you were there when I came to so...that's all I've got. It's not much."

"Maybe, maybe not. All I know is Mae couldn't be in two places at once and she was right here," he pat the bed, "when that thing took off. Maybe it just looked like Mae, like a skin walker of shapeshifter."

"And it drains life force. Kitsune can shapeshift and kill someone by absorbing energy. What happened to me could be the way it does it."

"Yeah. That brings us to Mae and why she won't wake up." Dean stroked her arm, unsure what he should do next to help Mae. He scrubbed a hand over his face before focusing back on his brother. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I think so." Sam wasn't entirely sure but he was on his feet again and they would have to wait and see about the rest. "She stopped for some reason."

"Well that's good considering everyone else died."

"A few days later," he corrected, "So, if it wasn't Mae-"

"It wasn't."

"Okay, well, how did it get in here then? Did it follow us the whole way here or sneak int. We had everything salted. We should have been safe. And why did it stop? Did it get to Mae first and... she didn't have enough?"

"She's not-" Dean wasn't sure what he was going to say. He wanted to believe that she was okay but it was hard to deny that something was wrong, even if they didn't know what it was. He thought he would have felt or sensed something but if something had attacked her in the night, he didn't even wake. "I don't know."

"Maybe we need to get her to the hospital."

"What can they do for her?"

"Keep her alive, make sure she'd okay while we track down this thing that tried to kill us."

Dean sighed. His eyes settled back on Mae's face. She looked calm and relaxed but he had no idea if there was anything he could do to help her. Even taking her to the hospital, even killing this thing might not bring her back. At the very least, he could to better than leave her alone in a motel room while he and his brother put an end to this.

"Yeah, yeah. We gotta get her some kind of help."

They didn't discuss it more, only hurrying to take down and clear out any signs of their work. It would have been easier, Dean thought, if they took her to a hospital but that might lead to more questions about how and where they found an unconscious, unresponsive woman. A more believable story was he was on a road trip with his brother and girlfriend. They'd stopped in St. George for the night and when they woke up, she didn't. They could call the paramedics and maybe they could do something of her right now. Or take her to the relative safety of the hospital.

Then, as they were packing away the photos and articles, the woman groaned, lurched up in bed and then bolted for the bathroom. The brothers exchanged a bewildered look after the door slammed behind her. Dean hesitated for a few moments before he heard retching and decided to follow her in.

She knelt in front of the toilet. When Dean moved closer to pull her hair away from her face and rub her back, she batted his hand away with a gasping 'get away from me.' Her stomach was empty so what came up was mostly bile but Mae found herself unable to stop there was nothing left. She sat back on her heels.

"What the hell is going on?" They said in unison.


	12. Chapter 12

Since Mae didn't want him to touch her right then, Dean took the plastic covering off one of the plastic cups next to the sink, filled it with water, and handed it to her. She glared at tit a moment but then took it. She took a generous swig of water before standing as she swished it around her mouth and spit it in the skin. Dean sat on the edge of the tub, waiting. He didn't know what more he could do for her.

Their eyes connected in the mirror. Dean usually thought he could read even her oddest expressions but right then, he didn't know what she was thinking. And he wondered if she was even her. If, despite his assertion to Sam to the contrary, she was under the influence of a creature, his need to take care of her could easily be used against him.

There was nothing say she wouldn't attack him too. Or that whatever had taken Down Sam the first time wouldn't come back to finish the job. He had to hope that wasn't the case and that shoring up salt lines and protective symbols would be enough. He believed that Mae was just as much a victim as Sam or any of the other people who had been drained. It didn't seem like Mae had suffered the same fate though. She was more sallow than normal, there were still dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was a frizzy disarray. But she didn't need medical attention.

"So, what happened?" He finally asked.

Her mouth drew together in a frown before she took a sip of water, this time swallowing it. "What do you mean?"

Dean shrugged. It could have looked casual to the untrained observer but she knew he braced for something. She couldn't say what. Because nothing had happened. His questioning gaze made her think, going over everything since she woke, before she fell asleep and she came up with nothing significant, aside from her sudden rush of nausea.

"I got sick, that's all. But I seriously have to pee now so...you could leave."

"Go right ahead but I'm not leaving."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. You don't have anything I haven't seen before."

She eyed him, wondering why kind of game he was playing with her now. Something was wrong and she was unsure why he wasn't saying more. "And you think this is your chance to see more?"

"Listen, you can make a thing out of this and try to force me out or you can just go."

She sighed. At that point, she was going to the bathroom whether Dean was there or not. There was no way to be casual so she tried to cover herself as much as possible as she sat to pee. To his credit, she thought, he tried to avoid looking directly at her. "This is weird, even for you. Can you at least tell me why I'm peeing under supervision?"

"You don't...remember anything?"

She turned to face him now. "I remember you annoy me."

"Nothing during the night?"

Her frown deepened as she finished going to the bathroom. "You handcuffed me to the bed. We talked. Then we went to sleep. I..." she tried to remember if she had even dreamed, "and then I woke up feeling like..." Her eyes widened.

"Like what?"

"Like..." she paused a moment, pulling up her pants, flushing the toilet, and moving to the sink to wash her hands. "I guess, if I'd been drinking, I'd think I was hung over. Not the worst I've ever been but not great. But I was sober. Unless..." she turned off the water, shook water off her hands, and dried them, thinking. "I wasn't hand cuffed when I woke up. Why?"

Dean watched her more intently now, wondering if he would even be able to tell what was wrong with her, if something was wrong with her. "I unlocked them."

"Why? The whole point was to make sure there was at least a little something to stop me from..." her eyes narrowed, mind trying to piece the hints Dean had dropped together, "what did I do?"

"I don't think you did anything."

Rolling her eyes did little to help her or calm her nagging headache but she couldn't resist. "Well, that explains all this then."

"I was worried, okay? I... I don't know, I thought I'd be able to tell for sure."

"I don't know what you're looking for because I'm not totally sure what happened here."

He recounted what had happened, or at least the parts he had witnessed, what Sam though had happened, and what he thought had happened. Dean didn't think Mae had any more information. He was pretty sure she wouldn't have had a memory of anything thing that went down after she fell asleep. He still hoped there was something he had over looked.

"You saw something run out and I was still in bed?" Mae asked.

"Yeah. I know you were. That doesn't mean you're not...involved."

"No, it doesn't."

"So, what do you want to do next?"

* * *

What she had wanted to do was have some kind of ability to see outside of herself and know exactly what had happened. Since that was not an option, she opted for a shower. To her surprise, Dean left the bathroom, leaving her to shower on her own. He had been so intent on not leaving her side before. With a small sigh, she removed the borrowed clothing, turned the water on, and gingerly thrust a hand inside the shower, waiting for it to warm up. When the temperature was bearable, she stepped inside.

As the hot water ran over her head and down her back, she tried to think. There wasn't anything there. It didn't feel like missing time. She didn't remember anything that Dean told her had happened. She believed him; she just didn't have the recollection. She'd fallen asleep, feeling relatively safe, with Dean's arm draped firmly over her waist. She didn't try to fight sleep but she did try to fight the feeling deep in her bones that, despite everything going on around him, that he belonged by her side. She remembered feeling quite nearly content.

Then she was up, a headache trying to thread its way through her thought. Real misery around the pain couldn't set in because she had felt violently ill, as if her body had to purge the poison from her body. Poison, she wondered, as the word rolled over her mind. Was that the right word? She didn't know but that's what her body told her. Some kind of foreign substance or influence. But what? And how?

Maybe whatever had gotten to Sam had tried her first. Maybe it didn't have as much success with her. But it didn't wake her or Dean. Or Sam. Whatever-no, she corrected herself, the kitsune, she was convinced it was a kitsune. One that had been trailing her since the last job. At least one. They were loyal to each other one and could be vengeful. She assumed she was now the focus of that vengeance. But it didn't entirely make sense to her. There were worst things to do to her than leave a path of destruction.

Maybe it had tried to possess her in the past but if that were the case, why not try it last night. It had obviously entered the room and if it had tried to attack her too, it hadn't woken her. And if it didn't possess her, then what had Sam encountered? Had it moved from random men to the ones she knew? That would make more sense but it still didn't explain how it all fit together.

From Dean's description, Sam had felt overcome with a desire not his own and had perhaps been seduced. Charmed was more like it. It wasn't outside of the powers or a kitsune, she thought. They often lured men that way and were almost always described as beautiful women. That was not a way she thought Sam would describe her but he had been convinced, even in the dark, that it was her.

It could have just looked like here. If a kitsune could transform from a fox to a woman, there was nothing saying it couldn't transform into a specific woman. Perhaps it was trying to exact its revenge on her by using her visage to kill men. Did they have that much understanding of a human legal system to set her up or was it just random violent, taking advantage of the powers and magics it possessed?

The latter seemed more likely. So, she thought, maybe this fox felt she had wrong it by killing its friend or relative or mate. Then, it had been able to transform to look like her. But then how did the time loss, the destruction of her clothes, the ones that had been left in their place, or the astonishing amount of booze mean? She wasn't sure but a scenario started to develop in her mind. Perhaps the boys could tell her if it made sense to them too.

Mae realized she had been standing under the comforting stream of water but not actually showering. Now, with a military efficiency, she scrubbed her body with soap and washcloth and washed her hair, grateful for the products, even if they weren't her preference. It felt delightful to wash the stresses of the past day and a half off.

She was surprised, and a little disappointed, Dean hadn't joined her in the shower. That would have been more enjoyable for both of them than watching her pee. He must be worried and not entirely convinced that she wasn't the thing that had attacked Sam. Hell, she wasn't sure it wasn't her either. Or perhaps he genuinely wanted to keep his distance. Logistics deemed they share a bed but there wasn't any reason for them to be closer than that. Well, one of them could have shared with Sam, she supposed, but that idea was more uncomfortable. There was something insanely normal feeling about being so close to Dean, being curled together, and just being able to sleep peacefully. Ultimately, Mae decided it didn't matter.

To her surprise, when she got out of the shower, her borrowed shirt and sweatpants were gone. She found a fresh set of clothes folded neatly on the counter. So, Dean had slipped back into the bathroom, unnoticed, perhaps to check on her, and left her something to change into. She found the move oddly thoughtful and she wasn't sure what to think of it.

* * *

His body always stirred upon seeing her. The ways and reasons behind it always differed but now Dean wondered it was anything like Sam experienced. Sure, he was willing to do whatever Mae asked, whatever she wanted, but it wasn't an uncontrolled response. He could just as easily resist. He was attracted to her. He wanted her. But not to the exclusion of anything else. And he didn't freeze when he saw her. It didn't seem any different for him. No, the way he felt about her was something completely ordinary. He desperately wanted to believe that everything was normal. He couldn't rely on that alone though, he knew. This was still a job and there were too many unknowns.

She was wearing the clothes he'd left her. They dwarfed her frame, offering almost no hints of her lean figure. Dean found it oddly appealing, maybe because it was a way he wasn't accustomed to seeing a woman he was attracted to, he thought.

"Hey, so I tried to see if Sammy had a spare bra for you but I don't think you're the same size."

Mae rolled her eyes but she hid an amused smirk as she turned away from him. "I think I'll get by."

Dean tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans on the other side of the room, trying to keep from pacing. "He did donate the sweats though."

"Well, thanks for everything, you know? Maybe we can make a stop and pick up some normal clothes today."

"Yeah sure."

He watched as she caught the scent of acrid coffee on the air. Sam has put it on before deciding he was already too jittery for it. Her feet were too small for the borrowed socks but she didn't complain as she walked to the coffee maker, grabbed a cup, and poured the dark liquid. Mae took a sip.

"This coffee is really terrible," She said, with an almost wistful sigh as she waited for the caffeine to hit her system. She opened her eyes and frowned as she scanned the room. "Where's Sam?"

She wasn't sure she had ever taken the room in. All motels blurred together after a while. This one had a motif stuck somewhere between desert southwest and mountains. The bedspread on each bed were fading rows of cream and turquoise hued lines with black southwestern style pyramids across several of them. The dressers and nightstand were rustic pine as was the head and foot boards of the beds. But the wooden slats were still the right size for a set of handcuffs.

The rustic styling didn't extend to the small dining area, with a round table that had metal legs and a dingy looking fake wood laminate top, flanked by four straight backed wooden chairs, a short counter also topped with laminate of mixed browns and blues that held a coffee maker, sink, and a microwave, and next to the counter, a small refrigerator.

The one part of the room decor that didn't scream standard motel was the artwork. That consisted of photography of what Mae assumed was the red hills of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve she recalled from some of the information on St. George she had read earlier. They might have been present in every room of this motel but at least they weren't classic motel art, she thought.

Dean's voice paused her thoughts. After a heavy sigh, began. "He felt...out of sorts." Mae's brow rose at the words. She thought that's exactly what Sam must have told his brother, but she said nothing. "And he wanted to get some air."

Hostility clung to Dean's words, even as he tried to keep them even. "Air? It's 6am."

"Yeah well..."

"Is that the best idea?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course not."

"But-"

"You think you've come up with a reason I didn't already?" He snapped at her, pacing now.

Mae blinked, taking another drink of coffee, and waited. After a several minutes, he finally sighed and raked a hand through his short-cropped hair. "I know it's a bad idea but...he wasn't going to stay here. Especially with you..."

He trailed off and gestured to her, as if that provided any real explanation. "After I showered? After I got into his pants?"

A small laugh made its way past the scowl on Dean's face. "I don't know what the thing that jumped him was but I'm pretty sure it wasn't you. I think if he thinks about it, he knows that too. But he had this feeling like you kissed him and he liked it. He can't shake it. So, it's weird."

"Well, I have zero recollection of that so maybe he's just an unremarkable kisser."

The grimace wasn't something he could totally hide. He knew she was trying to lighten the mood. "Or it wasn't you."

"Or it wasn't me."

"But it's not like he was safe while we were all here. He was attacked while were all in the same room. So, I don't know." Dean, not sure what else to do with himself, walked over to sit on the edge of the bed. "I suppose we should get to it too."

Making an agreeing sound in the back of her throat, she nodded. She finished her coffee and turned away from him to rinse the mug. With her back still to him, she decided to lay out the thoughts that had come to her in the shower. "Hey, so I was thinking. Earlier, you said you didn't know exactly how to tell if I wasn't me. Well, I think I must have figured it out."

"That's some shower. So how do I tell?"

"Oh, I don't know exactly but I think I did. Before, you know? We assumed that maybe I was possessed or something and during that time, I was on an epic bender, wearing booty shorts and crop tops."

"Which I very much would enjoy under other circumstances."

Mae rolled her eyes. "Alright well they're going to be tight on you but you're welcome to them. Anyway, I think maybe I had the same concern, before I called you. Legend on these things says that if they drink too much, they have trouble holding human form. Sometimes, when they transform, they still have tails that they have to hide."

Now he admired her as she dried the mug and returned it to its place among the others. "So, you think you got yourself drunk and tried to dress up to expose the kitsune, if it was taking you out for a spin."

She shrugged as she walked back across the room, stopping at her mostly empty bag sitting on the dresser and took her brush out. She moved again and sat on the edge of the bed to brush her hair. "I mean...it's what I'd do now, if I thought the same thing was happening. And maybe I shredded my clothes so it couldn't use them or maybe it shredded them to get back at me. I don't know. But what made me think maybe I figured something out is that when I came to the first time, I felt sick. At first, I thought it was because of the booze, and while it didn't help...I felt pretty similar when I woke up this time. I was definitely hungover but there's something more to this. I feel...worn out, even though I just woke up."

"And you were out cold."

"Yeah. So, something was trying to do...something. I don't know what."

"And then it attacked Sam after it did...whatever to you."

"Yeah. I don't know. Maybe what we originally thought was true and this thing really is possessing me."

He watched as she brushed out her still damp hair, feeling oddly mesmerized by the movement of her hands. Dean cleared his throat, "You were in bed with me all night last night and while that thing was fast, it wasn't fast enough to take out Sam and get back in bed and still be there when I woke up to chase it out. It might be connected to you but it's not possessing you."

"You still don't believe it's a kitsune?"

He shrugged. "It...it doesn't really matter to me what it is, except for knowing how to kill it. I just wanted be prepared if it's something else. But I can believe it's a kitsune."

Dean put a hand on her knee, causing her to forget anything else she was going to say. She looked at him, not sure what she wanted in that moment. The problem, the logical part of her brain told her, was that she knew exactly what she wanted but this might have been a supportive gesture, not anything more. His hand rest atop her knee too long to be accidental, not long enough for her liking. Those hands of his were so warm, strong but capable of such kindness and tenderness. Even that bare hint of a touch, that short connection set the rest of her body alight. Her heat sped up and her body craved, demanded more.

The man was too damn handsome for his own good. Certainly, for her own good. His lips were soft and inviting but balanced out but the scruff of his almost perpetual stubble when he kissed her. They locked eyes. His eyes were a beautiful hazel green but the always seemed to shift green in moments of passion.

He was too close for her to keep ignoring, for her body to keep ignoring. She raised her free hand rested on his chest and she wasn't sure if it was to push him away or just touch him. Feeling the powerful muscles, hidden from view by the black t-shirt convinced her to relax her hand and close her eyes. Her mind threw images of his lightly tanned skin, with just the right amount of body hair against her eyelids. He smelled amazing too, masculine, and earthy with just a lingering hint of cologne of aftershave. Nothing overpowering but incredibly provocative. God, she wanted him, she needed him. But she would be damned if gave in first. Three seconds of his hand in contact with hers was hardly erotic, nor should it have left her practically vibrating for more. But it did.

His mouth fell on hers. It was passionate and frenzied but not out of control. She knew she could stop him if she wanted, and as she met his need, she was certain he could stop her too. But neither wanted that. They both had the warnings in the back of their mind that this was not what they should be doing in this moment, that they should focus on the job, and that there was a distinct possibility that Mae was possessed or being used by some creature. It had jumped Sam and sapped him of enough energy to knock him out.

And Dean understood here, he was pursing contact with her, offering willingly to her. If he was wrong and the creature was a part of her, it has more than enough opportunity for it to attack him too. Those internal warnings did little to temper the exquisite feeling of his warm, rough hand against her soft skin as one slid under her shirt. His touch radiated warmth through her entire body, making her aware that she had felt cold for days. How, she wondered, could just a hand moving over her stomach feel so amazing? His touch was thoughtful, caring as he moved his hand up to cup her breast and tease at her nipple.

Both of her hand moved over his sides before tucking under his t-shirt and grazing her nails up his smooth and muscular back. To get lost in that moment, in the sensations they shared would have been divine. It always was with him though. It wasn't just sex that let her forget all of her concerns. Her body demanded that this happen now. He broke contact first.

"You have a normal tongue."

"Thanks, I've always led with that."

Dean grinned, pulling her close and guiding her to straddle his lap. She dropped the brush to the floor as she took his face between her hands and kissed him hard. His hands rested on her hips, pausing a moment before easing the rolled band of the sweatpants down a little. His dominate hand eased inside the pants to cup her ass.

This time, Mae laughed into his mouth and Dean pulled back, questioning. "I bet this is the first time you tried to get in your brother's pants." she said.

Dean scoffed, then sighed. "You know, you-you're very distracting sometimes. You have got to be the weirdest chick I've ever slept with."

"I really doubt that. Sure, I'm weird. But the weirdest?"

He pressed his fingers against her mouth. "Can we just have a rule about not mentioning people we're related to when we're messing around?"

"Spoilsport." She said against his digits.

"How is that fun for you?"

"Teasing you is beyond fun for me."

"Teasing, huh? I'll show you teasing."


	13. Chapter 13

Dean pulled her limp and supple body against his as they lay in bed, both more overcome with exertion and release than either would admit. He could have stayed in bed with her all day, he thought. It wouldn't solve their immediate problems but hell, it was too much fun to really came. He pressed his nose into her fiery hair. She smelled like soap and shampoo but not the subtle, herbal, or sweet undertone she usually had. It reminded him that she didn't have whatever gear and supplies she normally traveled with. And he knew she was a little too worried to let her wild side out for long. A day in bed was probably not in the cards for them.

Mae didn't let herself enjoy being with him, not past the sex. The sex, which was unexpectedly explosive, was a release. Letting him wrap his strong, muscular arms around her and resting her head on his chest as his heartbeat returned to normal was an indulgence. It would have been too much and she too easily felt herself slipping in the idea that they were together, really together.

This wasn't relationship sex. This was...something else. She was certain. Maybe it was a hook up, maybe it was just for comfort. It didn't really matter. They were already too familiar with each other. Once, she had told him she couldn't do this in fits and starts, that she couldn't neatly keep her emotions out of a physical relationship with him. She knew that was still true and knew she would be lying if she told herself she wasn't just as in love with him now as she was months ago, years ago.

He had made it clear that...well, it wasn't entirely clear what he wanted but it seemed like they no longer wanted the same thing tin. Except during sex. That brought them together in a single-minded pursuit of need and pleasure. This morning had been glorious, exactly what her body wanted, what it needed. Sheer will power, drove her from his warm embrace while her body still quivered in ecstasy, while her legs were still rubbery and unsure.

Trying to hide the tremble in her body she rolled away from him, stood, and tried to grab her frantically discarded clothing and pull them on. Dean blinked, taken aback by her rapid motions, that by the time he could form rational thoughts, she already had the sweatpants back on.

"Babe, what are you doing?" The words rolled out of his mouth with the honeyed laziness of a well sated man.

"We've got to get to work," She tossed over her shoulder.

Dean reached out, snaking a hand around her waist, and pulled her back to sit on the edge of the be. He propped himself up and leaned in close enough to kiss her hip and up the curve of her waist. "No, stay in bed. Rest up for round two."

God, she thought, it would have been so much easier, so much nicer to join him back under the covers. Her mind refused to follow orders to slip out of his relaxed grasp and instead focused on how wonderful in exploring hands would feel as their calloused warmth smoothed and excited their way around her body. How hot and wet his mouth would feel as he kissed her flesh and the zing that would run up her spine when he'd place a well-timed and positioned nip somewhere.

She wanted this to be just sex but could only lie to herself so much. Now, she had thought too much about it. "Knock it off, Dean. We can't just spend all day screwing."

"Sure, we could. Sam's going to check out the dudes in the hospital, see if they experienced anything like he did. See if there are any details they can share. You can't do that, not if they recognize you. The only other thing we could do is talk to the cops and see if there's any other dirt on these guys that might give us a clue to the motive of this...kitsune." His fingers played at the skin just above the band of her pants, pushing the fabric down more. Shifting, he sat up and brushed her hair away from her shoulder, kissing her skin again. "But it's still early."

For a moment, she gave in and relished the scruff of stubble against her shoulder, the soft lips, one arm tight around her middle, the other hand stroking down her other arm. He made some sense, although that could have been her libido talking, she thought and it was harder to fight the instinct than it was to give in. But no, this wasn't the right time for this. She cleared her throat and shook her head. "No, better to start fresh, maybe get something to eat, and certainly getting me some real clothes.

"Mmm," he said, nipping at her ear, "I like what you have on right now. Except for the bottoms. You could definitely lose those."

"C'mon."

"Spoilsport." He tossed back at her. But he let her go with one last kiss to her neck.

She missed the warmth of his body but finished dressing before she really did crawl back into bed with him. "What the hell were you thinking?" She finally asked, turning back to look at him.

Dean frowned, tossing back the covers, boldly displaying his nudity, as he collected his clothes. Mae refused to either stare or look away, not sure which would goad him on more. "Really? We just had a pretty fantastic, fun time. We're going to fight now?"

"Not a fight. It-something that may or may not have been me kissed your brother and tried to suck the life out of him so your first thought was to have sex?"

"Not my first thought," he said, a twinkle in his eye while he tugged his jeans on, "And I wouldn't say no to you sucking me-"

"Dude."

"I wasn't...it started out as a test, to see if you were...not you. I thought maybe if there was something really using you that maybe it would take me as a viable candidate. Maybe it didn't get enough of a meal since it couldn't finish Sammy. But you're just you. I'm pretty sure. The rest...just happened."

She sighed, admiring his smooth, well defined back when he sat on the edge of the bed to put his socks and boots back on. "It was still a stupid plan."

"I'm an expert at stupid plans. Besides, you and me...nothing has seemed anything like what Sam described. Don't get me wrong, I'm attracted to you and I'll go along with just about anything you want to do to me but that's not unusual for me."

"Good, it would make the sex awkward otherwise."

"You could have said no at any point."

"I know. I didn't want to say no. I wanted…"

"What did you want?" His voice was low, sexy.

She shrugged a bit to keep from visibly shuttering, her system still too attuned and receptive to him. "Exactly what happened. It wasn't bad, just careless."

"Kinda our M.O. babe."

"Regardless…"

Dean pulled his shirt over his head and turned back to face Mae, waggling his brows. "It was still fun."

She didn't hide the light chuckle or the satisfied smirk this time. "Yeah, it was."

* * *

After the pair dressed, Mae insisted Dean check in with Sam, and make regular check ins. She was still worried about him out on his own. Her problem was that she wasn't sure how to convince either man there was safety in numbers when that had failed so far. Not to mention the awkwardness of tiptoeing around Sam's discomfort. She didn't share Sam's recollection and so far, most of the weird moments, she had with Dean. But it was a touchy subject for Dean in general and Sam in particular. Her best bet, she thought, was to let them sort it out and take on whatever risks came along with it.

Instead, they settled on taking care of their more immediate needs. First breakfast and then new clothes. Because Dean had let Sam take her car, she was currently without her fake ids. Dean had only shrugged at this hitch, suggesting he and Sam had plenty. She let the issue lie for now. Fighting with him over the difference in their preparations styles was pointless and she knew he wouldn't change in this aspect. There was a part of him that would always fly by the seat of his pants. That worked better when you had some sort of backup, she though, but perhaps this is how he took things on solo too.

They found breakfast at a 24-hr diner, where it didn't matter that it was just shy of 6:00 am. Maybe because there was plenty to discuss but none of it seemed as if they'd end up with an answer both would be happy with, they kept quiet. They both enjoyed what turned out to be quality coffee, black. Dean scanned the building ideally, not sure what he was looking for but finally feeling on edge. He couldn't put a specific reason behind it but knew enough to not disregard it. There was still nothing he could do about it.

His breakfast companion didn't seem to sense it. Or, if she did, she didn't react. He couldn't read that in her. The only thing that made him thing she might have the impression that something was off too was a subtle tension in her body, the stilling of her eyes as she 'read' the menu. And then it was gone.

With a short, crisp sigh, Mae announced that even though she knew it would be cooked in more butter than needed, she'd have an egg while omelet packed with mushrooms, green peppers, and tomatoes. After a moment, he followed her lead. It was steak and eggs for Dean. The feeling, whatever it had been, didn't return while they ate nor did things return to normal.

Despite not flirting with a waitress, and just then realizing he hadn't noticed any other woman but Mae, he left a generous tip. He didn't even let Mae argue with him over paying. Their next stop was a big box store, the sort where a person could buy groceries, clothes, furniture, and tires all at once. Nothing was particularly high in quality but she would be glad to make due. Besides, everything she needed to hold up, her boots and her weapons were intact and as durable as ever.

As they entered together, Mae felt that odd feeling again and a chill that tried to creep up her spine. She stopped and stiffened. She recognized the feeling, at least a little. She had felt it in the motel the night before. At the time, she attributed it to insufficient insulation but she was beginning to think it was her body responding to the kitsune. Or it could have been paranoia. She knew something but she didn't know enough.

Still, she looked around, not sure what she was looking for yet. It would have been easy if she saw a fox...or something. There was nothing. Nothing that clicked for her. And then it something felt like electricity against her hand, jarring and unexpected. What had her head swiveling in the direction of the source in what felt like slow motion was that it felt comforting at the same time. She blinked, looking down at her hand far too long as Dean's curled around it. Wide eyed, she looked back up at the man. Judging from his expression, he felt it too.

"You okay?"

Mae filed away the sensation for later when she could think more about it and try to make sense of it. "Yeah. I just...let's wrap this up, okay?

Dean only nodded, and while she tried to pull away and march into the store, he kept a hold on her. He needed to, although he couldn't figure out why. She didn't fight it and he knew they just looked like a normal couple. She questioned it silently when she took a cart and he still kept his hand on hers. Those strange feelings, both the one from her and the one of being followed dissipated in minutes. Their hands slipped apart as Mae navigated to the clothing section.

He didn't follow her suggestion to find something more interesting to do while she shopped but gave her a little more space. Quickly and efficiently, Mae grabbed new jeans, t-shirts, a long sleeve button down, an affordable pair of black slack, a matching blazer, and white dress shirt. It was enough, she thought to get through this case and deal with most situations they might come up against.

She hoped Dean would give her a little space to pick out socks and undergarments but he was most excited about that. She tried to make her way through the racks quickly, looking for a couple bras in her size that would serve their purpose until she was back home.

"What about this one?"

Dean held up a green decidedly sexy bra. It looked like almost any movement would disintegrate the lace to dust. Her nose crinkled at the mere whisper of fabric but then she smiled.

"It'll look great on you, really brings out the color of your eyes."

He laughed, "C'mon, not everything has to be so...functional."

His eyes cast judgmentally towards the two basic, white bras in her cart and the tone of his deep voice on the word 'functional' made it clear that he lacked her desire for practicality over style. Had he noticed the value 5-pack of cotton briefs, she was certain he would dislike them for similar reasons. But this was not an outing for fun undergarments.

"It does when you're in the functional business, rather than whatever that is for."

Dean shrugged. It had been unlikely that she would have eagerly accepted his selection. He had hoped for at least a lighthearted smile from her. He hung the undergarment back up on the rack and moved to idly peruse other garments, waiting for Mae to finish up.

Once his back was turned though, she checked the tag for the size. Her brow arched up, noting that Dean had selected the correct size but no sure if it was intentional or random. Either way, now that he wasn't looking, she took the bra, tucking it under the other clothing she was getting, along with the nearby matching panties. Hell, maybe things would take the turn for the fun again. After all, she thought, once this was over, he would probably go back to his assessment that they couldn't hunt together anymore so fun opportunities might be limited.

* * *

After making her purchase, she changed in the bathroom. Not ideal, she thought but better than borrowed clothing, though she still wanted her familiar, broken in jeans and the softness of her flannels that smelled like the detergent she liked. All the same, she felt better in clothes of her own. As close to her own as she was going to get here, she thought wryly.

When she came out, Dean let his eyes survey her, hungry. The clothes made her look more like herself, less like she was his, he thought. She'd changed into the suit, so he knew she meant business. But even the trim suit looked good on her and his gaze lingered on her ass as she walked by him.

"C'mon, let's get on with it," she threw over her shoulder.

"Yes ma'am." Dean offered, with a mock salute.


	14. Chapter 14

The pair returned to the car but once they got in, Mae paused Dean's hand as he moved to start the car. They needed more of a plan, she thought, more information at the very least. "Call Sam."

Dean looked back over at her. "He's fine."

"You know through your psychic connection" she said, words dripping with sarcasm, "but that's not my point, he has all my gear that isn't the knife in my boot or back at the motel. And I want it."

"Separation anxiety?"

Her lips pursed in thought. "If that's what you want to call it."

"I've got you covered, Red."

"And as long as everyone is really drunk and squints, they'll think I look like you or your brother."

Dean shrugged. "I bet you could fake it. C'mon, you're not as touchy as Sammy about... the sketchy parts of the job. Dressed like that with that top bitch attitude, you can get in anywhere, even with using someone else's fake."

"Well that's just a dumb risk with zero reward. Listen, I want to figure this thing out, not get hung up because of taking a stupid chance we didn't have to take. That's not my version of fun. I'm already working a way I don't like to work, so just cut me a break."

If she wasn't right, Dean might have teased her over that. instead, he just sighed. "Yeah, okay. I have an idea of what your version of fun is."

His tone turned slow and languid at that. While Mae smirked, she cleared her throat and looked back out the window on her side of the car. "About that..."

"Gotta call Sammy, right?"

Dean didn't need her to go further, knew she was about to balk because they were pack to ta place of doubt around her feelings, around his, around everything. He had no interest in any sort of relationship talk. He hoped they could just keep doing what they were doing; hunting, having unexpectedly mind-bending sex, and spending time with someone else to talk to who wasn't Sam. It was a good system. But those two words told him all he needed to know about her thoughts. He knew he couldn't be lucky enough to keep the talk at bay forever. But for now, he'd do his best to try right now.

Mae tried to keep her face neutral when Dean deflected and when he didn't put the call on speakerphone. She tried to keep from looking over at him every time he only gave a one-word answer. She watched his fingers drum lightly on the steering wheel. It wasn't a nervous gesture. It was either a sign that he was thinking about what his brother was telling him or just a mindless action but there wasn't anything she thought she should read into it.

This felt like going through the fact-finding part of this job all over again and she found it eminently more boring the second time around, especially since she was always tethered to one of the boys. Of course, she didn't have a better idea. However, she now believed she wasn't the primary target of this creature. What she was, she hadn't figured out yet.

There had been plenty of opportunities for this creature to kill her. Even with Sam and Dean present, it easily could have drained her energy. Hell, she though, she had been cuffed to the bed, with little chance to easily escape; it could have slashed her throat and let her bleed out before either boy could have done anything to save her.

But that's not what happened. Somehow, it knocked her out but she was unharmed and it went after Sam instead. Was it interrupted or had it only planned to take enough to bring him down for a few minutes? Even with her memories, she wasn't certain she would have been able to make total sense out of what was going on. This didn't seem to bear the same resemblance of the last kitsune she'd encountered. Why was this one different?

Dean would tell her they were looking for something different, but what? If he knew, he would have named it. Deflection was one way he tried to protect her. She knew that's why he kept trying to float it since she didn't appear to be possessed and the other methods to take care of a kitsune weren't good ones. So, he tried to protect her. From what wasn't always clear but she could admit, there was comfort in his commitment to the idea that she wasn't responsible for what was happening.

It was hardly the first time she thought she was out of her depth on this one. If she hadn't broken down and called Dean, what would have happened, she wondered? If her theory that she had figured this out once before and had reasoned that alcohol and skimpy clothes might prevent the kitsune from possessing her or make it impossible for it to go unnoticed if it did was correct, then perhaps nothing would have happened. If she was wrong, maybe she would have given it the chance to strike and kill her. Mae sighed and shook her head. She felt like she had dozens of answers but none of the right questions.

Dean cleared his throat, drawing her attention. She wondered how long she had been lost in thought after he hung off. It wasn't as if he had been particularly talkative. A sudden silence wouldn't have been alarming. Hell, if he'd said more than one syllable at So, time, she would have been surprised.

"What?"

"Sam wants to meet up." Dean said, turning the key in the ignition, rewarded with the toothy growl of the engine.

"That's all he said?"

He frowned. "Maybe he should tell you."

"Don't dick me around Dean. Just-can you just tell me what he said?"

"Both guys are doing better. The doctors think they'll recover."

"Good. But?"

She watched as his lips pressed tightly for a moment before he pursed them. "Maybe Sammy is just...whatever happened to him this morning spooked him so maybe he was leading them into telling him what he wanted."

"Which means," she concluded from Dean's hesitation and over rationalization, "he thinks it's me or whatever the kitsune is doing to be me and the other victims confirmation that for him."

Dean didn't deny it, not totally. "It's not you. It couldn't have been you. Not totally. You were in bed when Sam was attacked."

"But it's connected to me and, I guess what your brother told you is, both guys described something similar enough to what happened to him that he's sure they're all connected. I doubt he would have given them the details he knew that would make this seem like an attack rather than... something else."

He didn't think Mae overheard the conversation but she was smart enough to figure it out, even without his evasion. Dean found it difficult to treat this like a regular case, with her as a regular victim but just has hard to see her as a capable hunter. Not because of the mistakes they had made so far but because he so desperately wanted to save her. But she was right, she was connected somehow and that meant she was the best link to the kitsune. Finding it and stopping it meant putting her at risk.

"Well...this doesn't make sense to Sam either. It doesn't seem to be draining any one enough to kill them, this time but... there isn't anything really connecting these dudes either, except for the fact that they'll follow a strange redhead into a back alley."

Mae's eyebrow quirked, a cocky grin turning the corners of her mouth. "I guess you'd better watch out, Deany."

"Hey, I only follow one specific redhead these days."

She wasn't sure that was remotely true but didn't let that thought creep into her laugh. "I thought you boys were convinced this thing looks just like me so it seems like it could still get you."

"Yeah well, it was dark; Sam didn't get a good look. He got an impression. And then he got a description from two dudes who weren't exactly sober at the time they were attacked. Besides, I'm certain I can tell the difference between you and some iMaetation."

Mae shook her head. "That was bad. I can't believe I keep sleeping with you. What you just said might have been the worst thing that happened here so far."

* * *

Sam cleared his throat, bracing and arm against the roof of the Impala as he leaned down to speak through the open passenger side window. "I don't think you should go in."

Sam's statement earned a huff from the redhead in reply. The trio had met near the local police station, down the street rather than the parking lot, per Sam's request. Dean studied her, knowing exactly how badly she wanted an answer, any answer and how close it seemed, if they just made the right choice or asked the right questions.

He watched her graceful hands slide over the cheap fabric of the newly purchased slacks. There was tension there, he thought. Instinctively, he reached over to still her hand, comfort her but stopped just as his hand started to move. Being told no had set her on edge, not undeservedly, he thought but it was an ultimately unproductive feeling. With Mae, there was always a risk of making it worse by treating her more like a girlfriend than a hunter.

Sam cleared his throat. "You match the description the victims gave. I mean, I'd think it was you, based on what they said."

"C'mon, that's crazy. There's more than one redhead in the world. I'm hardly that memorable-"

"Just trust me on this, okay?"

Mae huffed at Sam's interruption and leaned back against the seat, crossing her arms. Dean had to shift his eyes away from her and suppress the amused curve that threatened to take over his lips as saw her start to pout and fight the urge. A laugh from him would only fuel the fire.

"I-maybe you're not the most objective one of us to handle this."

"And you are?" Sam countered, "Listen, I can handle this, okay?" He then tossed a folder in Mae's lap. "Why don't you and Dean go back to the motel and see if there's any more you can find on the other victims, maybe try to predict who this thing might go after next."

Mae opened the file and flipped through the pages inside. She doubted there was much of a trail in that information, just more details. But maybe there was something. It was a task she could focus on that would save her from an argument with one or both of the brothers. "Yeah fine."

* * *

Dean put the coffee on and then, only after pouting a bit, Mae sat at the motel kitchenette table with her laptop. Maybe she could find something, a strand of connection between the victims, or her, or something. She was certain it wasn't her, just something that looked like her. Maybe. Her huff brought Dean's attention back to her face.

He set a mug down beside her, taking the seat across from her, and sipping his coffee.

"I don't get it Dean. These guys are just normal guys. Nothing like the ones the last kitsune was taking out. Those guys were abusive assholes. These ones are just..." she sighed, "boring, probably horny guys."

"And the last kitsune you dealt with didn't just drain a little and leave. This could be a different pattern?"

"It obviously is and... don't take this the wrong way but, do we even need to do something? If these guys aren't dying, you could say this is just an extreme lesson in not letting your dick lead you around."

"I might agree with you if you weren't blacking out probably during all of this. Besides, it can't be a healthy thing. Shouldn't we do something to keep people safe? What if this turns from just a little sip to something more dangerous and we could have stopped it?"

She waved the idea away with a flick of her wrist, taking the cup of coffee with her other hand. She sipped as she leaned back in the chair. "I know, I know. But...that means we have to catch this thing in action."

"Maybe Sam will find something better after talking to the cops."

* * *

Sam had not found anything more useful after an hour at the local police station. There wasn't anything like a pattern in their files. The reports of the men falling ill hadn't merited anything in the way of a report, which was unsurprising. The three hunters were looking for connections and coming up short. It was impossible for anyone not looking to find what threads they had.

"So, we're pretty much where we started." Dean sighed."

"The way I see it," Sam said, pulling out a chair to join the other two hunters at the small, circular table, "Either we gotta catch it while it's doing whatever it does with her." He gestured at Mae, "Or, if we fail there, then wherever it's going to feed. On that count, we might have found a little luck since both guys were attacked in the same bar."

"No. We're not going to let this thing take her or use her."

"I don't think we have a choice, not it we want to stop it. Even if we left, there's nothing we've seen so far that indicates it would just leave her alone or this wouldn't start all over again. We might as well make our stand here. We've done this sort of thing before."

"But not with her."

It was not the most dangerous thing they'd ever done but Dean was being too protective this time. She knew it. Sam knew it. And Dean probably knew it too. Mae quieted any other protest from him with a hand over his.

"Okay, her is right here, and as much as I have a say in anything that's happened on this job, I have a say in this." She turned from Dean to Sam. "The best plan you boys have come up with is to use me as bait and wait for this thing?"

"Basically." Sam said reluctantly.

Mae frowned. "Yeah well, I wish I could say I came up with something better. Or worse. Or anything else."

"Well, the good news is the worst thing that seems to happen is you seem pretty hung over."

"Which is a joy. So, what do you have in mind?" Mae asked.


	15. Chapter 15

Mae realized she has spent so many days holed up in a motel room or wasted that she had not had the chance to appreciate how beautiful the mountainous desert country was or how quaint this part of St. George looked. Old brick and adobe style buildings, mission style architecture. Outside of the historic city center, it was likely more contemporary and suburban.

She signed. Distracting herself wasn't working. At least not any of the ways she was trying to distract herself. She felt like she could hardly focus on the right thing. This job should have been easier. It should have made more sense so there was something she was missing. She let her eyes shift to the back of Dean's head as he drove. Mae she should just let the brothers figure it out. Frankly, she was a liability none of them needed.

More importantly, she knew she shouldn't be out here. If she wasn't safe at the motel, she certainly wasn't safe in the wide open. Even with the brother's in tow, she didn't feel totally comfortable. Dean had been insistent that they go out, survey the area while it was still daylight, just in case they could find a clue. Mae wasn't sure they would find anything significant or important and even possibility didn't outweigh the risks. It certainly didn't need all three of them.

Dean pulled up to the curb and stopped the car. He turned off the car and got out. With a final steeling breath, Mae opened the car door and slid out. She wouldn't speak it aloud and she would try to keep it off her face but she was certain Dean knew her discomfort as if it were his own. Ever since leaving the motel with the Winchester brothers, she felt off.

She scanned the area as she stepped out of the car, part habit and part paranoia. Whatever was wrong was unclear, just a feeling that she couldn't articulate or pinpoint the source of yet. It wasn't the first time she felt it and she was certain it wouldn't be the last on this job, if they didn't solve things soon.

Something was watching her, she suspected the kitsune but shuffled the feeling to the side of her mind because she couldn't rule out that nothing was wrong. They didn't have any real trail. Their only plan was luring the thing out of hiding and catching it when it was vulnerable. She had the easy job, she supposed, because once it attacked her to mimic her form or drain her energy or whatever it was doing, it was Sam's turn. Hopefully. It was possible that the thing could go after Dean.

Mae knew she would be powerless to help them so whoever it tried to attack next, the other brother would need to spring into action. For the moment, her eyes felt keener, ears sharper, all her senses were hyper focused. She could hear the scrape of her boots, the boys' boots on the side walk. She wished she'd brought sunglasses as the sun seemed far too bright. Her new clothes felt too stiff and itchy. Even her blood seemed to rush though her ears harder.

Dean looked back at her, waiting for her to join him, concern obvious on his face. She shook her head but wasn't able to articulate anything more. The wave of dizziness hit her fast. her vision swam, bluing and crossing before it went black. Mae thought it might be different if she had been conscious when it happened but it wasn't. She barely had enough time to think that thought before everything was dark.

Before the thought even processed through his mind, he bolted for her. He caught her, just before she would have hit the pavement. Had he turned away from her, she would have dropped like the dead weight she currently was in his arms. For better or worse, it was slightly less concerning this time. He knew what to expect, despite not anticipating this development at all. A tiny voice in the back of his mind tried to argue that she had just fainted. But he knew better.

"C'mon babe." He knew it was pointless to ask but couldn't help but try to get her to say something.

He cupped her face and slid his hand up to use his thumb to gently push her eyelid up. Her eyes were rolled fully back. He pressed fingers to her neck, checking for a pulse, and then rested his head on her chest briefly to listen for her breath. She was completely unresponsive, but she was otherwise seemingly okay. Just like before, no repetition of her name or calls for her to wake up got through. A pat to her cheek and the short jostle to roused her did nothing. All he had was the reassurance that she was still alive but that did little to assure him that she was genuinely safe. What the hell happened to her when this was happening to her.

It wasn't possession but he knew it couldn't be healthy or good for her. He would have to be satisfied with knowing she was alive. Now, he didn't have spare time to think, to say anything more before he heard Sam curse and take off at a full sprint away from him. Watching his brother dash away from him was the only time he took his eyes off Mae. in the few seconds he had to assess, he had no idea why. If he was being honest, knowing what Sam was doing wasn't his chief concern right then. figuring that out would need to come later because he wouldn't leave this situation if there weren't a good reason. There had to be something Sam deemed more important than knowing that Mae was safe. He had to trust that for now.

Dean shifted to scoop the redhead into his arms, pressing her closely to his chest as he freed a hand to open the back door of the car.

A plump older woman leaned over Dean's shoulder a bit. "Is she alright?"

"Low blood sugar," he tossed back to the all too concerned passerby.

Hopefully, he thought, the lady had seen enough to know whatever happened to Mae came on quickly and could easily be a medical condition. Aside from Sam running, it could have been something concerning but explained by totally normal reasons. He heard no more inquires or protests as he placed Mae's limp form in the backseat. Dean paused just a few more minutes to gently brush the hair out of Mae's face.

She really did look peaceful, pain free and unworried about what was happening right now. She said she didn't know what had happened when she out like this and he hoped that was true. Dean weighed the options; stay with Mae and make sure she was safe or follow Sam and make sure he was safe. Last time Mae was out like this, she was relatively unscathed. Sam wasn't as lucky so, locking the doors, he took off in the direction he had last seen his brother.

* * *

Sam knew what was coming next when he heard Dean's footsteps stop, then race, and he found Dean crouching next to Mae's slack body. That wasn't what clued him into what would happen next. No, that was the fox that appeared to leaped through Mae That's what caused her to crumple to the ground. It paused for what felt like minutes but was likely only seconds. Then, the mostly solid fox took off the opposite direction from Mae and Dean but right past him.

Sam knew the only reason he could see it was because it had attacked him, not in the same way it seemed to attack Mae though. He knew his brother couldn't see it. Maybe Mae could, if she was conscious, but for now, it was up to him to figure out where the hell it was going and maybe stop it. Did the kitsune know he could see it? It had to figure it out when he took pursuit after it. The fox was fast, faster than he anticipated. Sam had to dodge other the few pedestrians on the street as well as several shop displays.

He was going to catch the thing but he had no idea what he would do with it. How had Mae stopped the last one, the tried to recall as he sprinted after it. She had cut off the tail and destroyed the den. They didn't have any idea where the den was but if this kitsune was from the same litter or family as the one she had hunted before, maybe there was no den. Unlike Mae, he didn't keep a handy blade on him at all times so he would have to capture the thing, maybe find a way to incapacitate it, and get it back somewhere they could deal with it permanently. They would have to worry about the possibility of a den afterwards.

The only thing he knew for sure was that Mae wouldn't be okay unless he stopped the kitsune. He also knew that he was throwing himself in danger too. It occurred to him, only after he had started after the fox that it was possible this was a ruse to lure him somewhere to finally take him out. The typical kitsune seduction plan hadn't worked. Well, it hadn't worked that well but if it had picked a different form, perhaps he wouldn't have resisted. Or if it had used Mae's stolen form but in a different location, maybe he would have been incapacitated long term.

None of those thoughts slowed him though as he rounded a corner between two buildings and found himself in a blind alley. He cursed under his breath, "Shit."

He was transfixed to the spot as he watched the fox turn back to him, eyes locked on his and shift seamlessly to a near perfect version of Mavis Singer. This Mavis differed in two ways he was certain of; she had no tattoos and tails that fanned out behind her legs. Den would know if there were other differences but to his view, the tail was the biggest and most noticeable.

The notion of propriety crossed his mind briefly. Mae, the fox Mae, he corrected was completely nude. And while he knew this wasn't really Mae, it seemed inappropriate to see her this way. He didn't stare long because she seemed to demand his eyes meet hers.

A lump of sheer terror lodged in his throat because, despite every other instinct, the screaming of his body to run the other way, the adrenaline flooding his brain, he knew he would so whatever she asked. She could lure him to her again, just like before, and he wouldn't stop her. He couldn't resist the lure. He wondered if she had taken any other form if he would have even fought it.

The feeling she was able to inspire in him wasn't just lust. It was something comforting, relaxing, almost like the feeling just before dropping into a soundless, dreamless sleep. The promise what there, if he would just give in. He was beyond tempted. Sam didn't know how long they stood there, the kitsune letting him think and stare. He was trying to fight it but knew the longer they stood there, the less he would be able.

Any plan he had before about being able to seize it, capture it and take somewhere to deal with it later seemed like a complete joke at this point. And he had been worried about not having a blade on him. A naked woman would have been a harder situation to explain, especially one who looked just like the other unconscious woman he and his brother had with them. But clearly, that didn't matter now that he had no power to do much of anything.

It was a full fifteen minutes before the kitsune made a startled shift, breaking eye contact with Sam. He heard the scuffing footfalls of someone running past him, then turn back to approach him. He blinked and the kitsune transformed again. The fox cast him one last glance over his shoulder before it took off straight up over the wall and onto the roof of the building.

Even if he had his full faculties back under his own control, there were no hand holds or a fire escape in this alley to make it easily up the two stories.

"Sam? What's wrong?"

When his brother put a hand on his shoulder, Sam finally snapped out of the trance entirely. "Did-tell me you saw her."

"Saw who?"

Sam's eyes were still fixated on the roof, wondering if it might reappear, even to pop its head over the edge to see if he had left or not. "The-the thing, the kitsune, it looked like...it turned into Mae-"

"What?"

"It..." Sam shook his head, trying to make sense of what really happened. He felt like he was in a dream state since he took started following the fox. "It's gone."

Dean stepped in front of his brother, a hand on each shoulder "You sound like you are too."

"Uh, yeah, I..." Sam move his hands up, knocking free of Dean's hold and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Is Mae...is she with you?"

* * *


	16. Chapter 16

Her head spun as she sat up, long legs extended across the seat as she pressed her back against the door. This time, she recognized her surroundings. The Impala. The same street she remembered parking on before getting out. She didn't believe she had been out too long, based on the light. The sun seemed to be more or less in the same space in the sky. But Sam and Dean were gone.

So, she thought, the boys must have gone after something. She hoped it was the kitsune but it could have been food, for all she knew. The way she felt, the loss of consciousness, and the sense of being watched that preceded the mystery of how she wound up alone in the backseat of the car had her convinced she had been attacked again. But to what end, she wondered.

She closed her eyes, focusing in on her breathing as she tried to lay out her memories sequentially, poke and prod the corners of her mind to find something she had lost, something she just hadn't remember yet. But there was nothing there. Just a blank. Her breath came in a short, sharp jerk as she tried to make sense of what she knew.

This was broad daylight. They were in public. That meant this kitsune was willing to me more daring more to get to her. Prior to calling Dean, she didn't entirely recall if she was being attacked during the day. She was pretty sure it was at night. That felt accurate, although, she knew she had no proof. Since then, it had been the incident had occurred at night. So, to her knowledge this was an oddity. It seemed risky. Of course, no one else could see it. She couldn't even see it. She could only occasionally sense it but by the time she did, there was nothing she could do about it.

Despite the nausea and dizziness, she shook her head. Too many variables. Too many assumptions. She blew out a slow and low breath. Mae pressed her fingers to her temples. She needed to think clearly, for just a moment. As the feeling of being watched had increased, she had been trying to note and observe anything out of the ordinary. She would have seen a fox, she was certain. She didn't even notice any out of place beautiful women. Everything she had read and researched up to then indicated those were the two forms kitsune took. The damn thing had to be visible at some point. It wasn't seducing men invisibly. So that had to happen as some point between being an invisible fox and a visible woman.

She was able to see the last fox, but only after stalking and pursing it and catching it at just the right time. It had not been visible until it was out of sight of most people. This time, the kitsune was the one following her, not the other way around this time. She had facts and assumptions but no solution to understanding the kitsune, let alone stopping it.

Mae groaned, low in the back of her throat and pushed the heels of her hand against her eyes. She lost her train of thought. She didn't have a perhaps. All she really knew was that the boys must have seen something for them to leave her alone like this. Thinking about this made her head hurt more. They were missing something, something that would solve this for them and there was nothing that going over and over the facts made apparent.

Again, she shook her head. It would all make sense, she just knew it would, once all the pieces fell into place and she was just missing something. What she was pretty certain of was that what she had been doing prior to calling Dean had worked. At least a little. She was pretty sure.

That strange feeling of being watched, of being stalked was gone. She felt more or less normal. Of course, the feeling she had no was far from her normal. This thing was coming after her but she had been able to stop it. She was at least able to keep it at bay and there was nothing that indicated it wouldn't work again.

* * *

Panic filled Dean again when he found the car empty. Was that just a distraction to get her alone and do...what? So far there seemed to only be one kitsune they were facing off against and it didn't seem possible for Sam to be following and it doing something to Mae. If there were two, or more, that was a different case. But there wasn't enough proof for him to believe that. Dean had to remind himself that regardless of his feelings this wasn't that difficult a job. This was a spirit or creature that seemed to be able to drain energy from people and perhaps mimic the appearance of others.

It seemed to target certain types of people or specific people. Mae was one, either because of what she had done to the kitsune she had hunted before or some other reason they didn't have a good understanding on yet. Just because it didn't make sense didn't mean that there weren't rules and order surrounding what it did.

These things stalked, imitated beautiful women, hunted and killed or drained male victims. Women were not, in general, on the menu. Even if it were after Mae, it seemed unlikely that it would kidnap her as opposed to just tearing her up on the street, if had the chance. And there was no sign of a blood bath or injured Mae. Maybe she had left the car under her own power. Where would she have gone and why?

Fortunately, Dean didn't have to wait long to solve that mystery as he spotted the statuesque redhead across the street, exiting the liquor store. He was almost certain it was her, not the illusion or transformed fox Sam had described. At that point, finding either was a win. Looking both ways across the nearly empty street, he dashed to her side.

Dean reached out to her, touching her arm lightly. Had she been less distracted, he knew she would have drawn down on him with blade or gun, even in public like this. Instead, her eyes were a bit wild in the moment it took her to recognize the swift movement as him. Perhaps, he thought, he should have spoken to her first but if this wasn't the real Mae, it might have been the opportunity it needed to bolt.

In staunch defiance of any open container laws, she opened the bottle and attempted to take a healthy swig.

He took her by the shoulders. "Whoa, whoa, Red, don't get ahead of us here."

"I'm not going to let this thing get the better of me. I'm getting drunk. It can't get me when I'm drunk."

One hand slid slowly, almost discreetly down her arm towards the bottle. "While I absolutely love a woman willing to drink" He tipped the bottle in her hand to read the label, then gave a low whistle, "a surprisingly expensive bottle of whiskey. But we need you sober right now, okay? I need to fill you in on what just happened."

"I can't...I can't keep doing this. I'm not even useful on this case. And you know it."

"That's not true. Babe, we need you and we need you sober."

She closed her eyes, relenting because she knew going after this thing was unlikely when it could take her out in a heartbeat. She knew she couldn't chase it, couldn't fight it, and couldn't outrun it. Not on her own, and maybe not even with the boys on her side, not when Sam was also a target. "As bait."

"Yeah."

The smile that turned her lips surprised him a bit. Mae appreciated his honestly and bluntness in this case. There was no need to soft sell this with her, to ease her into reality, or to convince her that she should trust them. Him. That was what made this different from other cases. They would have been concerned if they had known they were thinking the same thing.

Dean let his eyes assess her face. The dark smudges rested below her soft blue eyes, which were a bit bloodshot now. She was pale but lacking any of the normal, healthy pinks and peaches her creamy skin usually showcased. Her hair wasn't quite an angry nest of red but was frizzing from her nearly compulsive gesture of raking her hands through the locks. The stress, caffeine, and lack of real sleep was getting to her. He didn't give much thought to his current appearance, suspecting his was similar to hers. Still, she was a striking woman, lean and in her boots about 6 foot tall and he hoped to get her back to her normal self as quickly as possible.

"But," he continued, "it's possible that it leaves you alone when you're drunk so that's not an option right now. Trust me, when this is all over, we can get stupid and sloppy."

She sighed, letting her shoulders fall slightly. "Fine. But this" She gestured with the bottle, "is plan b. Or c. Or whatever we're on now."

* * *

Back at the motel, Dean watched her pace, trying to keep his annoyance at bay as anxious, frenetic motions increased. He didn't want to start a fight with her over that, although he wasn't convinced that a fight wouldn't help her blow off steam. Another quickie might too but while he hadn't anticipated their earlier on, there were zero signals that one would start up now.

"What's on your mind, Red? You worried?"

She stopped, features creasing with pique briefly before she sighed, stopped her pacing and took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I need this to make sense and I just...I don't get it. Do you?"

He shrugged, "Listen, I'm okay not getting it as long as we can put it down and you and Sam are safe."

"Seriously?"

"Do you have a different plan?"

Mae flopped back against the bed, frowning as she stared up at a questionable water stain on the ceiling but let her eyes go unfocused. She could hear Sam typing and clicking as he tried to dive deeper into any story, lore, or description he could find. She was pretty sure he was even trying to find a way to get an accurate translation of the of Japanese source material. Maybe he would find something there. She could also feel the weight of expectation in Dean's stare but she let her mind unwind.

What felt right? What made the most sense? was as desperate as the action implied, why did it keep her out for such a short period of time? Why did it go after her and an additional victim? That was the part that didn't make sense to her. The other kitsune didn't need to go after two people. Did it?

She cursed lightly under her breath. She hadn't even considered that whatever form the kitsune was taking was a borrowed one. Was there a woman or women out there who had been used this way who had been completely ignored by her and other hunters? "Shit."

"Weird plan and I'm not really sure how it will help us out here."

"No, I-this one has a different motivation. That's the piece we're missing. But it doesn't indicate what it wants. You know, if you get into what's written about these kitsune, some of them act differently. Some are benevolent, some are deadly, some are just jerks-"

"Jerks?"

She gave a shrugging gesture with her hands, still keeping her eyes cast to the ceiling. "Tricksters, jerks, whatever. My point is this one doesn't seem to be after straight up death or destruction. If it's pinpointing people for meals, it's conserving them so it's either looking for a specific person or type of person-maybe this one knows there's a limited supply of people or-" this time she rolled her wrist, giving herself a 'wrap it up gesture', "Or maybe, it's just playing around with us and that's the whole point."

Mae sat up, looking back at Dean. "So yeah, you're right, maybe it doesn't matter why and even if it does, we might never get that so if we have a chance to stop it or get answers, we stop it."

Sam cleared his throat. "It...it didn't seem hostile."

"When wasn't it hostile? When it attacked you or when it was getting ready to attack you?"

He shook his head, turning to look at Mae and Dean. "I don't think that was what it was trying to do."

Dean was tempted throw something. the three of them should all be on the same page, particularly because he was the only one who seemed to be left standing when the kitsune came after them. and he supposed it didn't matter what either of them thought or wanted since would be the one to end things. "Oh, I'm glad you've formed such a connection with the thing trying to kill you."

"It could have. It hasn't. It wants something else. I'm telling you, when I saw it-"

"You saw it?" Mae interrupted.

"Yeah," Sam scrubbed a hand over his face, noting the significant stubble. 'You went down and...it was a fox. Then it was a woman, and she did look a lot like you...except with a tail."

"So, it's...jumping me to steal my...appearance. Okay, I'm not sure I've ever seen that in the lore but maybe that's how they end up looking like the women they pretend to be. But if you saw it, then it means what, it possessed you at some point?"

"No. I don't know. I think it's because it did whatever it did last night to me, which wasn't exactly possession but..."

"She tried to suck you dry."

Mae and Sam both rolled their eyes But Dean just crossed his arms, taking a more casual lean against the adjoining door. "Gross dude," she said to Dean before turning back to the Sam, "did she say anything? Do anything?"

Sam shook his head. "She stared me down for a while and then took off over the chain link fence when Dean showed up. And we weren't able to follow her."

"I didn't see anything," Dean said, "fox, lady, or foxy lady, nothing."

"Once it had human form, you probably would be able to see her." Sam argued, unsure

Mae sighed, "Okay well this is worse."

"How is this worse than it was before?" Dean asked at the same time Sam said 'It didn't do anything.'

"It's worse because you don't see them as foxes unless it wants you to, you catch them transforming, or it's possessed you."

"Sam is not possessed."

Mae shot him a look that said 'are you sure?' and Dean knew he couldn't be certain.

Dean huffed. "Okay well, I guess we'll have to figure that one out when we get there. But it'd didn't do nothing Sam. It knocked Mae out. This isn't exactly harmless. And it's draining energy."

"But not enough to kill someone." Sam corrected.

"Just about." Dean pointed out, eyeing his brother a bit more. Mae was right, he had no way of really knowing yet. But there wasn't a lot to do about it yet. Not yet. Ascertaining if that was the case added another wrinkle into the next steps but it wouldn't be impossible to deal with.

Raking her hand through her hair, Mae started pacing. "Haven't we been here before? where we could go round and round with questions? Here's what we know. "She started listing them off on her fingers. "One. It's different from the last one. The last one I killed lured victims with the sexy lady guise. And those men it killed weren't innocent. They were into shady shit. The victims since I killed that kitsune have been...pretty normal guys."

"Right, well..." Sam leaned back in his chair, hands laced behind his head as the thought, "Maybe it didn't know its strength. With the first victims and it was an accident that it drained so much from them. She took less from me."

"I was out a shorter period of time and it doesn't seem as...overpowering. Although, I might have been more drunk than drained in the past. Maybe it will learn how to borrow a form and take just enough energy to keep it going without really harming people. And that's two. It seems like it's doing something that allows us to mimic my form. When it does that, I'm out of the game. Which probably means that if it can't get to me, it will just find someone else to copy. So, locking me away somewhere or trying to out run this thing doesn't really solve anything longer term. Plus, you know, it got past our standard defenses last time so..."

"Yeah, I think that's on me," Sam said. "I'm pretty sure I broke the line when I went out to your car and I didn't fix it."

Mae signed. "Well...this think seems pretty desperate to get to us so we can't let being stupid be our downfall."

"Yeah. Here's what gets me though. It would make sense that this thing would go after you because you killed its...I don't know, friend, mate, family member...whatever. It would make sense to me that it would want revenge but it's not going after you the same way."

"Yet. Maybe it wants to toy with me. It's sending us out in circles. I've been wasted off my was, sleep deprived, I mean...it's not exactly leaving me at peace."

"But it's had plenty of chances to off you. Or me. Or pretty much anyone. And it hasn't. there has to be a reason."

"Okay, you two, it sounds like you're making an argument for just letting this thing do whatever it wants because it's only kind of hurting people."

Mae shook her head. "Not at all. But may it's not here to get revenge on me. I thought maybe it was trying to kill me."

"You said it yourself. Just because it hasn't doesn't mean it won't Red. It could be trying to make the both of you comfortable so that we let our guard down."

"We're not letting our guards down Dean but maybe...we can talk to this thing and get it to-"

Dean threw his hands up. "See reason? First the vampires, now this? At least vampires used to be humans. This thing is a creature that, even if it isn't currently killing people, has the potential to and could start at the drop of a hat. We don't need to find reasons to save evil things."

* * *


End file.
